Darkness Within
by SpacePirateGirl
Summary: A new evil plots to destroy certain duelists by first acquiring the help of another student. As more darkness is revealed at every corner, this enemy grows stronger until lives are at stake. Can his two victims discover his plan before it's too late?
1. The Awkward Answer

Wow! Sry about that. the fic just disappeared so i had to delete it and repost it. but it's back now so...

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh Gx or its characters. But i do own the characters Lisa and Tanjiro and for that matter any other OC in this fic. I also own this plot (and if there happens to be a season 4 and this is the plot, i still thought of it 1st. Yipee!)

Please R &R. And try to be nice in reviews (i'm really sensitive. :P jk). Anyway enjoy.

PART 1 - THE WANDERING SPIRIT

Chapter 1 – The Awkward Answer

xXx In a dark room xXx

A small, round, black table stood in the middle of the dark room. Sitting in the table's two, round chairs, two cloaked figures discussed their next plan. A single candle illuminated the parts of their faces that weren't hidden by their hoods. The rest of the room was clouded in darkness.

The man on the right cleared his throat. "There is a certain student at Duel Academy that I want you to find," the man whispered sternly. He was obviously in charge.

"The one who was the only true person to defeat you in a duel? Is he the one you want, Master?" the other asked. He leaned forward in anticipation.

The leader chuckled quietly. He rested his hands on the table. "No. I want another student. You see, I do wish to eventually defeat the one you speak of, but to do that I must prepare. This other student I speak of will help me achieve my goal." For a split second a flash of his green eyes could be seen. Then it was overcome by the shadow of his hood. "I do not know her name, but I believe once you find her, you will know. And another thing." His servant became even more anxious. "The girl herself does not know what I'm about to tell you," he continued, "but she holds a gift. I've noticed when people are around her, they become themselves. "

"But what does the she have to with your real enemy?" the man's servant asked.

"Quite a lot," the master clarified. "Once you use your own true form on her, she will aid us, and you must get her to duel my enemy. That will force him to reveal his true strategy. Then I will learn how to defeat it."

"There's a catch, isn't there?" the man on the left asked, sensing an emotion from his Master.

The other one nodded. His now revealed emerald eyes glinted. "Before you turn the girl to our side, you must make sure my enemy and she become close… at least as close as friends." The man frowned. "That part is vital," he remarked sternly. "The closer those two become, the more strategy I will get to see. If they aren't close at all, my enemy will never open up to her."

"I understand, my Master." The servant rose from his chair and his hood fell. What was inside had no shape just a dark form of mist. Then it materialized into dark blonde hair, a perfectly formed face, and dull, blue eyes.

"Good," the other smiled, apparently unsurprised at the change of shape. "Now please do not fail me."

"You can count on me." The servant rose and stepped quietly out the door.

xXx In class xXx

"Can anyone tell me what an equip spell card is and explain the difference of it to a continuous spell card?" Professor Chronos asked. He stood in front of his deck looking out at the class who sat on the bleachers.

Judai yawned loudly in response.

"Judai, since you sound so eager, I'd be glad to let you answer the question." Professor Chronos smiled gruesomely.

Judai rested his head in a hand. "Um…" Judai said out loud. "Give me a second…" Judai actually looked like he was thinking of an answer for once as the boy put his head in his hand with a frown-like expression on his face. The silence stretched for a few seconds and then all of the sudden Judai sat up straight as if he had an answer. Professor Chronos and the rest of the students leaned forward in anticipation. Judai knew the answer? That was a first.

"Uh…what was the question?" Judai asked, much to the disappointment of the entire class that hoped for something exciting to happen.

"Detention," Professor Chronos told Judai as usual. Shou and Kenzan sighed. "And judging by your reactions," continued the teacher, staring at Judai's two friends, "you two would be welcome to go to detention as well." They both tried to object, but Chronos cut them off. "Now can someone please tell me the correct answer? Ah, you there," he piped up as he pointed excitedly toward the girl who raised her hand (little people did at that point). "With the red hair…Miss…"

"Trinity, sir. Lisa Trinity," she said.

"All right, then, Miss Trinity, care to stand up and answer the question?"

"Yes, sir," responded the girl, rising to her feet. "Equip Spells are spell cards that remain on the field until your opponent destroys them. The difference between an equip spell and a continuous spell is that an equip spell is equipped with a certain monster whereas continuous spells can apply to several monsters or any other aspects of the game. And another thing about equip spells is that when the monster they're equipped to is destroyed, the equip spell cards are also destroyed."

"Very good," Chronos complimented. He turned to the rest of the class. "Now then, your homework tonight is to give three examples of an equip spell and three for a continuous spell. Also you must fill out the answer to the question I asked in class on an entire paper, single-spaced." The reaction from the class was a sigh of boredom and whining. "No arguing, or I'll change it to both sides of the paper," Chronos said sharply. "It's due tomorrow. You're excused."

The students replied by gathering their things to head to the cafeteria for lunch. Judai, Shou and Kenzan followed suite after Kenzan and Shou woke up Judai from his nap.

Suddenly the girl called Lisa walked over to them. She was average looking, and her red hair was tied back in a bun. Her eyes were a soft green. "Nice answer for Chronos, Judai," she said sarcastically with a slight smile. "Even though it was more of a question."

Judai smiled a little bit confused. "Thanks, I think. But who exactly are you?"

She shrugged in a bored manner. "Lisa... you heard my name in class, didn't you?"

"Uh... maybe. I think I was asleep. But Lisa is an American name."

She nodded. "I know," she answered. "I'm from America. I heard a lot about this school and decided it was one of the best. Anyway... see you." She waved her hand carelessly as she walked away.

"She's kinda nice," Judai commented.

Shou shook his head. "Just ignore those types of girls, Judai. They just act nice, so you think they are."

"Judai knows what he's doing," Kenzan argued. "After all, I know how he feels more than you do. I'm his best friend."

"No you're not. If I remember right," Shou objected, "I was the one who beat you before."

"Yeah? Well, you don't remember right. I could've activated my trap card and most likely won."

"But you didn't activate it, did you?" Shou demanded. "Were you too scared?"

"Chill out, guys," Judai half-laughed. But both Kenzan and Shou both shot angry glares at each other than let out a 'Hmph' and turned in opposite directions. Ignoring his two friends. Judai grabbed his lunch from his backpack. "We're going to miss lunch, so let's hurry."


	2. Meetings with the Pro

Chapter 2

xXx Lunchtime xXx

(Lisa's pov)

Lisa sat all by herself on an empty table. Every few minutes she took a sip at her drink. _Why aren't I hungry anymore?_ she asked herself quietly. _I must be depressed or something. I guess having no friends is finally getting to me. _

Suddenly the entire cafeteria was in an uproar. Lisa firmly plugged her ears as she looked back to see what was so exciting. She listened just enough to hear what was being shouted. She wasn't surprised over what she heard. Random comments of _Edo, come sit over here_ or even _there's an empty seat at this table, Edo_. Then she saw Edo Phoenix himself walking down the isles and trying to choose where to sit. She vaguely remembered seeing his name on the list of enrolled students when she signed up this year, but she didn't believe it until now.

Rolling her eyes at all of the commotion over the Pro, Lisa turned away and stirred her drink with her straw. "Stupid celebrities," she muttered. Suddenly she heard the empty chair beside her move. Her cheeks turned a light pink as she turned her head and saw the one and only Edo Phoenix. Then they turned flaming red when he sat down next to her.

_Oh, god! I hope he didn't hear me_, she thought. Her heart started beating rapidly. Famous Edo Phoenix sitting right next to her? Even though she didn't like him much from what she heard on television, the thought still made her nervous. "Um…hi," she managed to get out.

Silence.

"Why'd you… uh… decide to… sit by me?" she stuttered.

Edo didn't even look at her as he spoke. "Simple," he stated. "This was the only table that wasn't shouting my name."

"O-oh," she struggled to say. _Of course that's why he sat here. What answer was I hoping for_? She rolled her eyes at herself. "So you don't like fans?" she asked curiously.

"Fans are okay," he said. "I just don't like them on my heels all the time."

Lisa nodded and looked away. For some reason she could hardly get her body to function and appeared very still to any onlookers. "Um... I heard you're from America," she said in attempt to start a conversation. "I am, too."

No reply. Lisa took the hint and stopped trying to small talk.

It was then that two girls whom she had tried to sit by earlier came and attempted to take seats at the somewhat empty table.

"I thought you two didn't want to sit with me," Lisa commented, "so beat it."

The blonde one sighed regretfully as she was startled into sitting up. "Well, we changed our minds." Then she put her tray down although she did not sit down yet. It was as though she knew if she made one more move, Lisa would become very angry.

The other brown-haired girl nodded in agreement, apparently not noting Lisa's delicate temper at that moment. "Yeah, we want to be your friends," she told Lisa but excitedly looked at Edo.

"No, you just want to use me," Lisa corrected. "And guess what? I don't want anything more to do with you." Her green eyes angrily examined the two girls. "So I'll tell you one more time. Beat it!"

"No seriously, um… ugh, I can't remember your name—" the blonde one started in attempt to fix the situation.

"I'm Lisa," she interrupted angrily. "And I don't want to be your friend—"

"Yeah, that was it. Lisa. We really want to be friends with you now—" The blonde was interrupted again, but not by whom she expected.

"I believe after someone says no twice it's pointless to continue asking, so get lost," Edo cut off sharply. The two girls looked surprised for a moment and then heart-broken. Finally they left in tears.

Lisa ignored them and looked at Edo, a smile on her face. _That was nice of him_, she thought. "Hey, thanks for sticking up for me," she said politely.

Edo smirked and stood up. He had finished eating at that point. "The only reason I did that was so I didn't have a bunch of fan girls after me," the Pro explained. "Anyway I better go. See ya." With his hands in his pockets, Edo walked slowly away without so much as glancing back.

Lisa smiled, but felt angry with herself inside. _Duh_! half of her told herself. _Why else would he do that for you? He doesn't like you, and you don't like him and that's final. _Then her other half that thought Edo could actually be a nice guy kicked in.

_So then why do you feel so jumpy whenever you think about him_? that half argued.

_Because he's a Pro. Anyone would feel that way around him, even a boy_, Lisa's first, practical half explained.

_But I wanna make sure just in case_, her inward self decided.

"Wait," Lisa shouted after him. He turned and looked at her without a single expression on his face. "If you want, you can come sit here tomorrow… But only if you want… I mean, I won't be, you know, mad or anything if you don't. And my name's Lisa, by the way."

Lisa inwardly groaned at what she just said. _That was so stupid._ So _stupid! He's probably gonna laugh at me now, or maybe never set eyes on me again_. But to her surprise Edo just nodded and turned away in an obvious attempt to be polite. What she didn't know was that he was smiling when he faced the other way. Edo smiled only when he knew that no one would see him. But someone had been watching studiously, had seen and heard everything…

Suddenly Lisa saw someone ahead of Edo. First the strange boy stared at the Pro, and then he quickly transferred his gaze to Lisa herself. The boy was at least two inches taller than her. His dirty-blonde hair covered his forehead and half of his blue eyes. The only problem was that he appeared too perfectly proportioned and flawless to be completely human. He sneered unnaturally at Lisa and then turned and walked away.

(Jaden and his friend's POV)

"Wow!… I… love lunch…" Judai said in between bites.

"Well, you are always hungry," commented Shou, who had finished eating a while ago along with Kenzan. Judai had got seconds and then thirds, too.

Kenzan nodded. "That's true."

A boy that looked a year younger than Judai walked over to their table. "Hey, guys. What's up?" He selfishly pulled up a chair and sat down next to them.

"Uh…hi," Shou said after everyone else refused to greet the boy. "Are you new this year?"

"Yup," the boy said. "The name's Tanjiro if you want to know."

Judai smiled excitedly. "So you're a duelist right?"

Tanjiro nodded. "Of course. I specialize in summoning high level monsters without sacrifices."

"Wow! Really?!" Judai exclaimed, amazed. "I gotta duel you."

"You up for it right now?"

"Of course—" At that moment the bell rang signaling to get ready for the next class.

"Oops," Tanjiro said and stood up. He pushed his hair out of his face. "Looks like we're too late. Maybe later, Judai." Judai nodded his goodbye.

Kenzan stepped right on Tanjiro's path to class. "Hold on, Tanjiro. How did you know Judai's name?"

"Kenzan's right," Shou agreed. He stood up by Kenzan

Tanjiro's face became very opaque and perfectly flawless as it creeped even the terrific Kenzan out. He transformed to completely emotionless on the outside and as though he was hiding something on the inside. "Judai's the best duelist around here. It's your names I don't know," he explained so emotionlessly that it could either be a lie or the truth. Kenzan and Shou didn't know anymore.

Judai popped his head over. "Hey, guys, it's cool." He smiled. "Everyone knows my name," he added, arrogantly lifting his head and closing his eyes. Kenzan backed down from Tanjiro, who began walking away.

"I don't trust him," Kenzan remarked after Tanjiro left. Judai and Shou were walking slowly to class along with him.

Judai yawned, ready to fall back asleep in class as soon as they got there. "Who? Tanjiro? He seemed like a nice enough guy. A good duelist too."

Kenzan shrugged. "I still don't trust him. Still neutral, Shou?"

"I could go either way, but…" Shou paused. "Judai, you didn't see Tanjiro's face. It was so… oh, what's the word?"

"Inhuman?" Judai guessed. Shou and Kenzan fell (anime-style).

"There goes my argument," Shou responded, amused.

"You know, we better hurry or we'll be late for class," Judai said as he started to run. "Not that I mind. It's just I don't want to have even more detention for tomorrow."

The three of them made it to class just in time.


	3. Out of Detention and Into the Duel

Okay. This is my first posted fanfic duel, so please go easy on me. I'll get better as more duels go. Anyway, please review.

Chapter 3 – Out of Detention and Into the Duel

xXx Detention xXx

"Aww… I hate detention," Judai whined. "Time we could be spending dueling is wasted with more class. This sucks." He threw his pencil down.

"Yuki Judai," the female teacher piped up. "Are you implying you want extra assignments to do?"

"Nope," Judai responded cheerfully. "I'm implying that your detention class sucks."

"Extra five minutes of detention for you," she ordered. "Your two friends may leave." Shou and Kenzan rose uncertainly.

"You sure you'll be okay, Judai?" Kenzan asked.

"Yeah, we'll stay and wait for you if you want," Shou added.

"Nah, I'll be fine," said Judai, who picked up his pencil and started writing very slowly and illegibly. Apparently he didn't write much. "And when I get out, one of you can duel me. Then I'll really be okay."

Kenzan and Shou backed up like scared lunatics. "No, that's all right," they said in unison. "Catch up with you later." At that point, Judai was the only one left in detention. After five minutes, he left and when he opened the door he Tanjiro standing there waiting for him. "Hi," the Freshman greeted.

"Hey. What brings you here, Tanjiro?" Judai asked.

"I came here for that duel you wanted, Judai," Tanjiro explained. "You seemed pretty eager before."

"Okay," Judai said bringing out his duel disk from his pack. "I can't wait to see your high-level monsters!"

xXx Red Dorm xXx

"I wonder where Judai is," Shou said as he sat in the desk chair looking at his deck. "Detention should be over by now."

"He's probably dueling someone," Kenzan guessed. "You know Judai. Let's go find him."

xXx Obelisk Duel Arena xXx

"All right, get your game on," Judai shouted as he activated his duel disk and drew five cards.

Tanjiro smirked following suite. "If you insist."

"Wait," shouted a voice that sounded like Shou's from just outside. A second later, he ran in followed by Kenzan.

"Hey, guys," Judai said. "I'm just about to duel. Wanna watch?"

"Sure, Judai," Kenzan agreed.

**Tanjiro: 4000 LP / Judai: 4000 LP**

"All right then, I'll go first," Tanjiro said drawing a card. "I play two cards facedown. Your move."

"Uh…you do know you can summon a monster, right?" Judai asked confused. "Well, anyway, I summon Elemental Hero - Wilheart in attack mode." A savage monster, more like a beast than a hero, popped out, brandishing his wide sword (4/1500/1600). "And I attack you directly."

"Tanjiro has no defense which means Judai will wipe out almost half of his life points," Syrus claimed excitedly from the bleachers.

"Not quite," sneered Tanjiro, who held out his hand. "I activate one of my trap cards, Ghost Halt, which means I discard a monster with Ghost Dragon in its name, and then I can negate your attack and end your turn immediately." He smiled unnaturally again. "Looks like you need to re-think your moves."

"Why's that?" Judai demanded.

"Because you're about to lose a chunk of your life points. The card I discarded was Ghost Dragon – Ultimate. But more about that later."

"Good, because I still have to throw down two face-downs," Judai responded. "Now give me your best shot."

Smirking, Tanjiro drew a card and began his turn. "Are you sure that's what you want?" The blonde held a hand over his other face-down. "I activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted. So I can special summon a monster from the Graveyard as long as I put it in attack mode. Now which one shall I pick?" The card was already sliding out from the Graveyard, so Tanjiro could summon it. "How about the only monster card there? Come out Ghost Dragon – Ultimate," Tanjiro shouted. A white dragon with dark mist sailing around its body appeared on the field. The dragon's neck was long but slender, and its sharp teeth hissed at Judai and his monster. (9/3000/2700)

"Wow! Not bad for your second move," Judai said.

"Thank you, but you've seen nothing yet," Tanjiro said as he drew a card. "Go Ghost Dragon – Ultimate. Attack his Sparkman with Ultimate Unseen Blast!"

Judai grunted as his life points decreased. His head hung as if he was accepting defeat.

**Tanjiro: 4000 LP / Judai: 2600 LP**

"Still want to duel me?" Tanjiro teased, seeing his opponent looking upset. "Or are you too depressed over your first move?"

Judai looked up with a huge grin on his face. "No way!" he countered excitedly. "This is exactly the opponent I've been looking for! And to fight back, I think I'll play the trap card, Hero Signal!" The trap card revealed a light emanating the letter H. "That lets me summon any Elemental Hero from my deck to the field when a monster is destroyed by battle." The Elemental Hero – Burstinatrix appeared, her hands holding balls of fire (3/1200/800). "So. Is that all you've got up your sleeve?"

"Nope. I play one card face-down, and now you can go," Tanjiro answered.

"Good. I draw and play the spell card Polymerization. I'm fusing my Elemental Hero Avian in my hand with Elemental Hero Burstinatrix on the field to form…wait for it…the Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" Judai cried. The red and green hero with one wing and a dragon-like arm appeared folding its arms on Judai's side of the field (6/2100/1200).

"But the attack points of his hero are still less than Ghost Dragon – Ultimate," Kenzan said out loud. "Wingman doesn't stand a chance!"

"Don't worry," Shou replied. "Judai always has a plan."

"You're right," Judai continued. "I play the field spell Skyscraper. And since your monster's attack points are higher than mine, my monster gains 1000 points. Flame Wingman, attack his Ghost Dragon – Ultimate with sky-dive scorcher." Flame Wingman attacked Ghost Dragon – Ultimate, and Tanjiro's monster disappeared in a wave of light.

**Tanjiro: 3900 LP / Judai: 2600 LP**

"And that's not all," Judai said. "Whenever Flame Wingman sends a monster to the graveyard, that monster's attack points come straight out of your life points. Show him what you got, Wingman!"

Tanjiro didn't look the slight bit surprised. In fact, he looked completely emotionless.

**Tanjiro: 900 LP / Judai: 2600 LP**

"Uh…I guess it's your move," Judai said. "Aren't you surprised? In awe? Maybe even a little confused at my move?"

Tanjiro smiled with his inhuman grin. "No," he said. "I knew you would do that all along. Your strategies are becoming boring, Judai. You say you're spontaneous, but you use the same tricks over and over. And that's why I wanted you to destroy my monster. So that I can show you what spontaneous really means!" Even though it seemed impossible his smile became even more unnatural. "And now it's my turn. So let the fun begin!" he continued, drawing a card.

**Cards Used in This Episode**

**Judai**

Elemental Hero – Wildheart

Level: 4

Attribute/ Type: Earth/ Warrior

ATK/ DEF: 1500/ 1600

Effect: This card is unaffected by the effects of Trap Cards.

xXx

Elemental Hero – Burstinatrix

Level: 3

Attribute/ Type: Fire/ Warrior

ATK/ DEF: 1200/ 800

xXx

Elemental Hero – Avian

Level: 3

Attribute/ Type: Wind/ Warrior

ATK/ DEF: 1000/ 1000

xXx

Elemental Hero – Flame Wingman

Level: 6

Attribute/ Type: Wind/ Warrior

ATK/ DEF: 2100/ 1200

Effect: "Elemental Hero Avian" + "Elemental Hero Burstinatrix" This Monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. When this card destroys a monster and sends it to the Graveyard as a result of battle inflict damage to your opponents Life Points equal to the ATK of the destroyed monster.

xXx

Hero Signal

Type: Normal trap

Effect: You can only activate this card when a monster on your side of the field is destroyed and sent to the Graveyard as a result of battle. Special Summon 1 Level 4 or lower monster from your hand or Deck that includes "Elemental Hero" in its card name.

xXx

Polymerization

Type: Normal spell

Effect: Send Fusion Material Monsters that are listed by a Fusion Monster Card from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and Special Summon the Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck.

xXx

Skyscraper

Type: Field spell

Effect: When a monster that includes "Elemental Hero" in its card name attacks, if its ATK is lower than the ATK of the attack target, increase the ATK of the attacking monster by 1000 points during damage calculation only.

xXx

**Tanjiro**

Ghost Dragon – Ultimate

Level: 9

Attribute/ Type: Dark/ Dragon

ATK/ DEF: 3000/ 2700

xXx

Ghost Halt

Type: normal trap

Effect: Sacrifice one Ghost Dragon monster card you control. Negate the attack of your opponent's monster and end his/her turn.

xXx

Call of the Haunted

Type: Normal spell

Effect: Select 1 monster from your Graveyard and Special Summon it in face-up Attack Position. When this card is removed from the field, destroy the monster. When the monster is destroyed, destroy this card.


	4. The Sun Sets and New Strategy Rises

Chapter 4 – The Sunset

xXx Duel Academy Halls xXx

Lisa was heading in the direction of Professor Chronos's class. She thought she might have left her book there because it wasn't in her pack when she went to her Obelisk Blue dorm room, and she didn't remember seeing it in any of her other classes.

As she walked down the hall, she looked out at Duel Academy island. The huge windows gave Lisa a broad view of the horizon out in the distant ocean. The sun was setting, and the water was illuminated by the orange and maroon light, giving it a beautiful touch. The sunsets at Duel Academy were pretty. Lisa just wished everything else would come easily for her, just as watching the sunsets was. Then she might actually be able to make a friend.

A few minutes later, Lisa was almost at Chronos's class when Edo walked out.

She stopped for a second, but then tried to pretend like she didn't see him and headed the other way. If he saw her, he might think. . . what? Maybe that she was stalking him? She didn't want him to think that. Not because that would make _him _stop talking to her, but because _she _didn't like him much. The last thing she would want him to think was that she did like him.

"Hey, wait up," Edo said, much to Lisa's disappointment.

She waited for him. "Hi," the girl said nervously.

"I didn't expect to see you here. What's up?" Edo asked.

Lisa fidgeted with one of her stray hairs. "I think I left my book in Chronos's class."

"It looks like you're headed the wrong way then," Edo teased. "Chronos's class is _that_ way." He pointed in the direction he had come from.

Lisa grinned, nervously looking away. Now Edo knew she had just tried to avoid him. "Yeah. . . so what brings you here?"

"I was just telling Chronos that I would be gone next week in the Pro League," Edo explained.

Lisa half-laughed, and Edo looked at her curiously. "I'm just wondering," she said, "but why do you care so much about this school? I mean," she continued, "you're already a Pro. Why do you stay, Edo?"

Suddenly, Edo's face became opaque as though a mask had hid so much emotion deep inside his heart. Lisa grimaced at herself inwardly. She had said the wrong thing.

"The Press," Edo answered shortly. "If they found out I was failing at a school full of complete amateurs, my public image would go down." His words sounded recited as though he knew someone was going to ask that one day. Almost as if he had practiced saying it for weeks after he enrolled, ready at every moment to answer the question to anyone who asked. But that was not the true reason why he stayed, Lisa knew.

She nodded, a faint touch of disappointment in her eyes. She didn't know why she felt denied, but then again she never had a friend growing up. Maybe she wanted one now. "Oh, of course," she said quietly. What did she expect? A Professional duelist becoming friends with a. . . what did he call her? Amateur? She felt tears come to her eyes, and faced the other direction to hide her face. "Well, anyway," she spoke up in a somewhat shaky voice. "Thanks for talking to me, Edo." She began to head back down the halls, the way she came and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

After a few moments, Edo called after her. "Hey, Lisa!" She stopped. _No, please don't do this to me_, she thought desperately. _You made your point. I'm sorry for making silly wishes about you. I'm sorry for asking about your personal life_—

At this time, Edo had caught up with her. "You're crying," he said simply.

"No," Lisa countered. "I just have allergies, that's all. It gets bad this time of year." _That's a lame excuse_, she scolded herself. And Edo knew she was making it up, but he still said nothing.

For a moment they just stood there, not looking at each other, not moving. The tone wasn't uncomfortable, but after a while, any silence would become abnormal.

Edo broke the silence, once it reached that point. His mask was on again. "You should take a lesson on direction," he said. "Didn't you want to get your book from Chronos?"

Lisa nodded. "Oh, yeah. . ."_ What is he thinking?_ she wondered.

Edo shoved his hands into his pockets and took a few steps away. "Later."

"You wanna sit with me at lunch tomorrow, Edo?" Lisa quickly asked before he could take another step. She didn't want to lose him yet. "It's not like I'll have to save you a seat," she joked.

Edo smirked. "I'll think about it." He paused. "By the way, you can call me Ed," he finally added as he strode slowly away.

"_I'll_ think about it," she teased. "Bye."

Lisa stood there in awe as Edo Phoenix left. She finally noticed that he was slightly taller than she was. The setting sun cast a slight outline to his profile. Even when he was gone she still stood there, confused, hardly realizing what had just happened. Edo Phoenix, professional duelist, considering sitting with what he called an amateur. Then Lisa started to head back toward Chronos's class room. _Maybe he is okay after all_, she decided.

xXx Obelisk Duel Arena xXx

**Tanjiro: 900 LP / Judai: 2600 LP **

Tanjiro drew a card. "My move! I play the spell card Ghost Reinforcement, so I discard my Dark Spirit – Blue to summon Ghost Dragon – Blue from my deck. And when this card is special summoned successfully, it lowers all non-dragon/spirit type monsters by three hundred points." Judai groaned as Flame Wingman's points decreased to 1800.

"Now," Tanjiro continued, "I play my face-down Reversal of Death from last turn to bring the card, Dark Spirit – Blue, back to my hand."

"Wait," Judai said curiously. "Why didn't you choose Ghost Dragon – Ultimate instead?"

Tanjiro laughed. "Why would I want that monster back again? Didn't I tell you? I wanted to show you I can think on my feet. Bringing back the same monster wouldn't help much, would it? But my turn is far from over! I play the spell card Merge of Darkness!" He held out the spell card with a glowing, orange star right in the center of it.

Judai stared at the card as the hologram popped up. "What's that? I've never heard of it," he admitted.

"It's sort of like your Polymerization card. Except this lets me fuse Ghost Dragons and Dark Spirits to form Dark Dragons!" Tanjiro explained. "And I'm fusing my Dark Spirit – Blue—" the shapeless, spirit-like color disappeared "—and my Ghost Dragon – Blue—" the blue dragon also left the field "—to summon the ultimate Dark Blue Dragon!" A dark mist swirled around the somewhat cruel dragon as it fiercely growled (8/2800/1700). "Go! Attack his Wingman with Blue Darkness Flash!" Flame Wingman vanished from the field. "And when my dragon destroys a monster, the opponent is dealt an extra one thousand points of damage.

**Tanjiro: 900 LP / Judai: 600 LP **

"So still think you're the best around here?" Tanjiro demanded arrogantly.

"Uh. . . no, I don't actually," Judai responded. "You see, there's always a better opponent. New students come every year. That's why I duel a bunch of them. So I can improve. You're a great example." Judai drew a card. "And the best part is it's my move! Now watch this! First I summon the Elemental Hero – Bubbleman, and I can—"

"You can draw two cards," Tanjiro interrupted curtly.

"Huh? I didn't even tell you what it does yet—"

"I know what it does. Your field is empty, so draw two cards and continue," Tanjiro cut off again.

"Okay. . ." Judai drew two cards and held out one of them. "Now I play The Warrior Returning Alive. Now a monster—" Elemental Hero - Avian! Now I play Common Soul, and—"

"Returns to your hand, I know," Tanjiro impeded sharply. His face was becoming impatient. He knew Judai was about to win.

"Gee, will you let me talk?" Judai whined.

"That guy can be a real jerk," Shou complained.

"Yeah, well, Judai will defeat him, so there's no need to worry," Kenzan said.

"I choose to bring back the Elemental Hero - Avian," Judai continued, and slid another card into the spell/trap card slot. "Now go Polymerization. I'm assuming you already know what I'm about to do, but… I'll tell you anyway. I'm fusing Elemental Heroes Sparkman, Avian, and Bubbleman to create the Elemental Hero – Tempest." A card that reminded Tanjiro of a surfer appeared dramatically (8/2800/2800). "And even though you most likely know this, all I have to do is sacrifice a card on the field and my Tempest can't be destroyed for one battle. But one battle is all I'm gonna need. So. Go, Tempest! Attack his Dark Blue Dragon! And to keep my Tempest here I'll send my Skyscraper to the Graveyard."

Tanjiro held up his hand to block the cloud of dust headed his way. He was obviously annoyed. "You done?!" he demanded impatiently.

Judai held up one of the last two cards in his hand. It was de-fusion. Flame Wingman de-fused and left Sparkman, Avian, and Bubbleman. Judai grinned. "Now attack!" he ordered.

**Tanjiro: 0 LP / Judai: 600 LP **

Tanjiro smirked as his life points decreased to zero. "Nice game, Judai," Tanjiro praised. "You could be a great duelist if you didn't use the same strategy over and over."

"You're one to talk. I beat you," Judai said enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Tanjiro said, his inhuman face and emotionless voice taking control again. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, maybe."

"All right," Judai said. "See you." Tanjiro left the duel arena.

"Hey, nice duel, Aniki!" commented Shou, coming up to him.

"Yeah! You really showed your stuff," Kenzan added.

"The only thing I worry about is if he was right," Judai said as he put a hand through his hair. "I mean, lots of the time I do defeat people with the same monsters."

"No way," Kenzan argued. "Against a tougher opponent, you always bring out new cards."

"It's not so much the cards that worry me," Judai continued. He fanned out his deck and looked at it as he spoke. "It's the strategies I use. Remember when Bastion dueled me, Shou?"

Shou nodded. "Of course."

"He built his deck in a way that would counter my fusions which is basically the only way I end up winning." Judai put his deck back together and looked at his friends. "And he got really close to beating just by doing that."

"But you still won, Aniki," Shou said.

Judai nodded. "I need a new strategy," he said. "One that will make me even better."

"Well, like you said, Judai-saurus," Kenzan agreed. "When the going gets tough, you always find a way to improve."

"Yup," Judai said, smiling. "And that's a great way to start off a new year!"

**Cards Used in this Episode **

**Judai **

Elemental Hero – Bubbleman

Level: 4

Attribute/ Type: Water/ Warrior

ATK/ DEF: 800/ 1200

Effect: If this is the only card in your hand, you can Special Summon this card from your hand. When this card is Normal Summoned, Flip Summoned or Special Summoned successfully, if there are no other cards on your side of the field, you can draw 2 cards from your Deck.

xXx

Elemental Hero – Avian

Level: 3

Attribute/ Type: Wind/ Warrior

ATK/ DEF: 1000/ 1000

xXx

Elemental Hero – Sparkman

Level: 4

Attribute/ Type: Light/ Warrior

ATK/ DEF: 1600/ 1400

xXx

Elemental Hero – Tempest

Level: 8

Attribute/ Type: Wind/ Warrior

ATK/ DEF: 2800/ 2800

Effect: "Elemental Hero Avian" + "Elemental Hero Sparkman" + "Elemental Hero Bubbleman" This monster cannot be Special Summoned except by Fusion Summon. By sending 1 card (except this card) from your side of the field to the Graveyard, select 1 monster on your side of the field. While this card is face-up on the field, the selected monster is not destroyed as a result of battle. (Damage calculation applied normally).

xXx

The Warrior Returning Alive

Type: Normal Spell

Effect: Select 1 Warrior -Type monster in your Graveyard and return it to your hand.

xXx

Polymerization

Type: Normal Spell

Effect: Send Fusion Material Monsters that are listed by a Fusion Monster Card from your hand or your side of the field to the Graveyard, and Special Summon the Fusion Monster from your Fusion Deck.

xXx

De-fusion

Type: Quick-play spell

Effect: Return 1 Fusion Monster Card on the field to the Fusion Deck. In addition, if all Fusion Material monsters that were used for the Fusion Summon of that Fusion Monster are in your Graveyard, you can Special Summon them all to the field.

xXx

Skyscraper

Type: Field spell

Effect: When a monster that includes "Elemental Hero" in its card name attacks, if its ATK is lower than the ATK of the attack target, increase the ATK of the attacking monster by 1000 points during damage calculation only.

**Tanjiro **

Dark Spirit – Blue

Level: 4

Attribute/ Type: Dark/ Spirit

ATK/ DEF: 2000/ 0

xXx

Ghost Dragon – Blue

Level: 4

Attribute/ Type: Water/ Dragon

ATK/ DEF: 1700/ 800

Effect: When this card is successfully special summoned, decrease the attack points of all non-dragon/spirit types by 300 points.

xXx

Dark Blue Dragon (fusion)

Level: 8

Attribute/ Type: Dark/ Dragon

ATK/ DEF: 2800/ 1700

Effect: "Dark Spirit- Blue" + "Ghost Dragon – Blue" This card can only be special summoned by playing the spell card Merge of Darkness. When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, your opponent loses one thousand points.

xXx

Ghost Reinforcement

Type: Normal spell

Effect: By discarding one card, summon a card from your deck with Ghost Dragon in its name to the field.

xXx

Reversal of Death

Type: Normal trap

Effect: Select one monster with either Dark Spirit or Ghost Dragon in its name and return it to your hand.

xXx

Merge of Darkness

Type: Normal spell

Effect: Select two fusion-material monsters listed by a fusion monster with Dark Dragon in its name, and send them to the graveyard. Then special summon the proper fusion monster from your fusion deck.


	5. A Broken Heart to Be

Btw, this fanfic is assuming season 3 never happened, and this takes place during the 3rd year. I just keep 4getting to put that in the 1st chapter, so this was just more convenient. And also i know pairing cannon figures w/ OC's isn't a good idea, but sometimes it's fun, so enjoy even if you don't think stories like that r believable or just don't read.

Chapter 5

xXx Next Day in History Class xXx

"It's time for a pop quiz," the teacher droned on. "You will have until the end of class. That's fifteen minutes."

The class started to protest throwing random words of I didn't study or my grades are going down now. As a result, the teacher silenced them.

"Remain quite, or you'll receive even less time to complete it," he said in a boring tone. The teacher handed all of the tests out. "Now start."

Lisa started the first answer on her test and groaned. History wasn't her thing. _Why do we even learn it anyway?_ _The important thing is knowing how to duel, not knowing who dueled in the past_, she mentally complained. She looked back at Edo, who was sitting a couple of rows above her. He looked like he didn't care too much about the test and wasn't even trying hard on it.

_That's odd_, she decided. _If he really was here for the Press, he would actually be working harder._ She grinned. _Finally I found a flaw to his mask._ Then Lisa looked down at Judai in the Slifer rows at the bottom. Lisa thought it was funny that he was even here at all, seeing as how he missed class all of the time. He was sound asleep and snoring. However, his friends were working diligently on the tests.

Lisa shook her head, smiling, and then looked down at her own test. She glanced through the questions and sighed. For the next eleven minutes she filled out what she could (which wasn't much), and when time was up, she handed her test in.

Then the teacher excused them and everyone gathered up their things and headed toward the next class. Lisa did the same thing, but then waited at the door for Edo. She felt like they were going through a switch. First Lisa tried to get Edo to talk to her, then Edo to her, and now it was her turn again. But Edo didn't seem like he wanted to talk today, so before he could get down the stairs to catch up with her, she quickly left toward the hall.

As Lisa was heading toward Chronos's class, she felt a hand on her shoulder and whipped around to see who it was. She expected Edo again, but it was not. Instead she found the other student she had seen yesterday.

"Hi, Li—I mean, what's up?" the student said.

Lisa frowned. "You know my name," she stated realizing what he had tried to say before interrupting himself.

"Well, it's not usual for someone in America to come all the way down here," he said, seeming as though he had already prepared a comeback. "Naturally unique people get their names noticed faster."

Not actually believing him, Lisa nodded. "What's _your_ name?"

"Tanjiro," he replied.

"Not to sound rude," Lisa started, "but why are you even talking to me?"

Tanjiro smiled and looked down in his hand. Then he grabbed Lisa's arm, and in a split-second she tried to pull away, not sure exactly what he was doing. "What are—" she began, but then the object he had placed in her palm felt familiar. "My pen!" she realized and looked at it in surprise.

The student nodded. "You have a habit of forgetting things," he commented. "I believe you left your book yesterday, too."

Lisa frowned. She hadn't found that book she had left in Chronos's class the other night. Lisa assumed she must have left it somewhere else. But how did he know about that? Only Chronos and Edo knew it.

Tanjiro retrieved something from his backpack. It looked like her book…it _was_ her book. "Here. I meant to give it to you sooner, but…" he trailed off.

Lisa snatched it from his hand and walked away, still frowning.

"Don't I get a thank you?" he teased, but something made Lisa uneasy about it. The teasing sounded forced.

She turned around and somehow glared at him even with a forced smile on her face. "Thanks," she said sweetly. Then her smile faded, and her tone changed to anger. "But I don't need help from stalkers. So leave me alone." Lisa turned away angrily. He knew too much about what she did, her name, her habit of leaving things behind, the fact that she was American (even though Lisa was an American name).

"Hey, wait a second," the boy called out. "I'm just trying to be nice. I mean, the only nice ones to _you_ are… let's see… well, I guess it's just me and Edo."

She stopped abruptly. Hearing that name set her on fire. How did he know about _that_? Then she remembered seeing him the first time. He had been intently watching her and Edo in the cafeteria. Lisa didn't look back at the mysterious student, and remained still. Tanjiro knew things he shouldn't.

"What's wrong?" He sneered at her. "Did I hit a sensitive spot? I thought you didn't like Pro duelists anyway."

Now _that _she had never told anyone. "I'm going to be late," she said briskly. "Bye." Lisa jogged quickly away from the strange boy before he could say another word. And when she felt calm again, she settled to an easy walk. Next Lisa opened the book he had given back to her.

But something didn't feel right… Then it hit her. Lisa clutched her heart in pain as she dropped the book and stopped walking. Other students looked at her in confusion, but in a moment continued on. No one paid much attention to her and didn't really care.

Lisa gasped and fell to her knees. In front of her she saw someone's shadow. It looked like—

"Are you okay?" asked Edo's voice, which didn't sound to concerned. She didn't answer, she couldn't… breath. That was when Edo realized something was really wrong. "Lisa?" He dropped his bag and knelt down beside her, putting a hand on her back.

A few moments after he sat with her, the pain subsided as fast as it had appeared, and Lisa let out a breath. At last she fully noticed the only person who actually tried to help her . "Edo?" she whispered.

"Are you okay?" he repeated, demanding an answer.

"Yes…Well, now I am," she answered. "But why—"

"What happened?" he cut her off.

"I just opened my book," she said. "This weird guy called Tanjiro gave it back to me. The pain started when I opened my book… but, Edo, why'd you…uh, you know…"

He shrugged as he picked up her book and glanced through it curiously. "It's not right to ignore someone who looks like they're having a heart attack," he answered as he continued flipping through her book. Then he snapped it shut and looked at her with those blue eyes, those opaque, icy, blue eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded. "I think so…" It was the truth. She didn't know for sure. What if the same thing happened again except it was worse? She was lost in thought until Edo stood up.

He returned her book and held out his other hand. Lisa took the offer and got up. "Come on," he said. "I don't think Chronos will like us being late."

Lisa nodded again and followed Edo down the halls. _It's not like he actually wanted to talk to me before. So why did he do that for me_? she asked herself.

xXx Lunchtime xXx

Shuffling his deck, Judai started to eat at the same time. "I wanna duel someone," he got out. "One of the freshmen."

Kenzan sighed. "First, you might want to chew, Judai-saurus," he commented.

"Or even swallow," Shou added. "How much can one person eat?"

"Depends on the person," Judai answered with his mouth full. "Now who to duel…" With his gaze, he searched around the cafeteria. "Aww. Everyone looks too busy…"

"That's because they're eating," Shou explained. Judai threw a confused face at him. "People don't usually carry their decks to lunch unless they're like you, Aniki," his short friend continued.

Judai threw his arms behind his head and leaned back. "I just wish one of _them_ would challenge me. Why do I always have to be the challenger?"

Kenzan shrugged. "Maybe because no one wants to duel you."

"Hey, I just had a great idea!" Judai exclaimed. "One of you two could duel me!"

Kenzan and Shou stood up. "Um… that's okay…" Shou said. "I better go get ready for class."

Kenzan nodded. "Me too." The two ran off again.

Judai rested his chin in his free hand that wasn't holding his deck. "How come every time I mention a duel they run off? Guess I'll never know." He sat up and shifted his gaze around the cafeteria. "I'll find someone to duel one of these days."

(With Lisa)

Lisa sat at the same table she had last time. It seemed like the minutes were days. She knew Edo would not show up, but she still hoped he would. Soon it was five minutes before class would start again. Edo had never come. She never even heard him come in the cafeteria at all (which was impossible not to hear).

Then Lisa noticed someone else sitting by himself. It was Judai, but where were his friends. She shrugged and stood up. Maybe she could take this advantage. She sauntered over to the brunette.

Judai saw her immediately, obviously with not much else to do. "Hey, aren't you Lisa?"

Smiling shyly, Lisa nodded. "Yeah. Can I sit with you?"

"Sure," he said. "Pull up a chair." After a while, Judai sat up from leaning against his own chair. "You _are _a freshman, right?"

"Yeah… why?" Lisa gazed at him with wary, green eyes.

"Well… I was wondering if you wanted to…well, duel me," Judai explained with a grin.

"Duel?" Lisa asked, surprised.

"Yeah, that _is _why you came to this school, isn't it?" Judai teased. "To learn how to duel? Otherwise, there was no point for you to travel all this way."

The red-haired girl laughed. "Of course I came here to duel. I was just thinking you were going to say something else." Lisa stood up. "I'll duel you later, but shouldn't we be getting to class now."

Judai looked around. The cafeteria was almost empty. Most people had enough sense to be to class on time. He shrugged. "You do know that missing one class won't hurt you." Judai grinned. "Look at me. I'm one of the best duelists around and I hardly attend class. Going two days in a row is almost a record for me."

Lisa bit her lip. Then she nodded. "You're right. Who needs class when we really learn to duel by dueling itself?"

"You're catching on," Judai said. "But we should find a good place to throw down."

"Wow! Wait up," Lisa called out as Judai nearly sprinted away. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Judai answered. He waited for her to catch up. "It's sort of breaking the rules, but you're an Obelisk Blue, so it won't matter too much."

"Well, we _are _skipping class, so breaking another one won't matter too much," Lisa joked. Judai nodded in agreement.

They started to run toward the hall and then down it, the brunette leading the way. After a while, Judai stopped. Lisa halted as well, breathing hard. "How do you run all the time without getting tired?" she asked.

"That's the thing," he said. "I do it all the time. Especially to get out of class." He led her to one of the best Obelisk Blue Duel Arenas.

Lisa immediately stopped and looked at Judai curiously. "We're gonna duel here?"

"Yep."

"Cool. I don't think I've ever dueled at this school, Judai," she commented. "This will be a nice place for my first one."

"I'll be a nice opponent for your first duel here, too." Judai took his place at the right side of the dueling field. "You ready?"

"Of course," she said taking the left side. "Just don't be so nice to me when we start."

"Don't worry. I always give it my all," Judai said, activating his duel disk. "Now. Get your game on."

xXx Edo's Boat xXx

Edo stood leaning over the railing. He had avoided going to lunch in the cafeteria because he knew Lisa would be waiting for him. Not that he didn't like her, she was nice enough, but he didn't want to break her heart. Edo had seen evidence on Lisa's face that she not only liked him, but loved him. Since that realization, he also decided to skip class for the rest of the day, so he wouldn't encounter her in the hall again.

And that same encounter earlier wasn't a good idea. The poor girl would probably take it the wrong way. He only helped her because it was the right thing to do. He would've done that for anyone, but how would she know.

_The right thing to do now is to avoid her completely_, Edo decided. _Maybe then she'll take this a little easier._


	6. Intrigued

Chapter 6 – Intrigued

xXx Obelisk Duel Arena xXx

"All right, Lisa," Judai said as he drew six cards. "I'll go first. And I'll start with my Elemental Hero Sparkman in attack position." An electric figure appeared on Judai's field and folded its arms. "Then I'll play two cards face down, and that's all." Holograms of the Yu-gi-oh cards were placed on the field.

Lisa smiled. "Nice move, but watch this: I play the spell card Quick Summon to normal summon Simorgh, Bird of Divinity!" she cried. Simorgh was a creature with feathered, purple wings and clawed feet. "This card is the tick to your defeat, Judai," Lisa continued, "because during each of our End Phases both of our life points take 1000 points of damage. And you have fewer life points than me. Or at least you will after my attack! Go, Simorgh, and attack his Sparkman!" Judai's points decreased to 2900.

Lisa's smile faded as she suddenly felt something stir in her heart again. It wasn't quite as bad as earlier, but it was still the same type of feeling. She attempted to ignore it. "Before I end my turn though, I play one card face-down. And did I mention Simorgh's other effect. For each spell and trap card you have face-down, that 1000 points of damage I told you about decreases by 500. It's over because my points will hardly get touched. You'll just take the hit." Judai's life points decreased by 1000 (Judai: 1900, Lisa:3500).

"It's not over yet! A duel's not over until the last card is played," Judai explained, drawing a card. "And it's high time I showed you." He looked at his card. "Not bad. I play…" Then he stopped with a troubled expression on his face.

Lisa saw Judai hesitate. "Judai… what's wrong?" He didn't answer. "Judai?"

"Nothing's wrong," he said finally. "I play the spell card Polymerization so I fuse the two card in my hand. Elemental Hero - Burstinatrix and Elemental Hero - Avian to summon the Elemental Hero – Flame Wingman." He put the fusion card on the slot of his duel disk. "Now I summon Neo Spacian - Black Panther!"

"I've never heard of that card," Lisa said in surprise.

"It's from outer space!" Judai explained. He received a look of confusion. "Um… anyway," he continued, "I use it's effect to copy your Simorgh, the Bird of Divinity. Now go Black Panther attack her monster."

"What's the point of that?" Lisa asked as his monster began to attack. "Both monsters will be destroyed."

Judai grinned. "I'll still have Flame Wingman to attack you directly."

Lisa gasped as Black Panther's attack headed her way. "Hold it," she said. "I play Negate Attack. So your attack is not only canceled, but you are prevented from attacking again," Lisa said as a purple-blue shield appeared in front of her monster.

"I play two cards face-down, and i guess that's it," Judai said. (Judai: 1900, Lisa: 3000)

Lisa drew a card, and her vision grew blurry. It was Ghost... something. She tried to stand straight despite all the dizziness. She knew one thing. She had no card with Ghost in its name. Lisa attempted to ignore it. "All right then, I play the spell card Giant Trunade. So all spell and trap cards on the field return to their owner's hand." Judai's two holograms disappeared as did Lisa's face-down. "Now I call to the field Harpie Lady 3." The Harpie Lady with blue hair materialized onto the field. "Go Simorgh, Bird of Divinity. Attack his Elemental Hero - Flame Wingman." Judai's held up his disk to block the attack from Simorgh. His life points retreated to 1300. "Then I'll re-place my trap card facedown. That'll do for now," she ended looking satisfied. (Judai: 300, Lisa: 2500).

xXx Class xXx

"Maybe we shouldn't have left Aniki by himself," Shou whispered to Kenzan. "Now he's missing class."

Kenzan shrugged. "Maybe he found an opponent to duel," he replied, whispering back.

"But that would mean that his opponent would be skipping class also." Shou sighed. "He's a bad influence—"

The female teacher (the same one for detention) glanced at Judai's two friends as she paused from her lecture. "Do you two want to revisit detention today?" she asked sharply. Shou and Kenzan received glances from the entire class.

"No, ma'am," they both said at once

"Then pay attention," she ordered, returning to her lecture.

Shou managed to get in one last whisper before silencing himself completely. "I just hope Judai and his opponent know what they're missing," he said sarcastically.

xXx Obelisk Duel Arena xXx

"My turn. Draw!" Judai exclaimed drawing a card. "Sweet! I play the spell card Miracle Fusion. It lets me fuse monsters in my graveyard, and I have the perfect monsters in mind. Wingman and Sparkman combine to form the Elemental Hero - Shining Flare Wingman. And it has a special ability. For every Elemental Hero in my Graveyard it gains 300 attack. I count Burstinatrix and Avian. So that gives it 3100 attack points. Now I'll attack your Simorgh with Black Panther."

Lisa grimaced an explosion surrounded their monsters. Both were destroyed.

"All right!" Judai shouted. "Go Shining Flare Wingman and attack her Harpie Lady 3! And by the way," the brunette added. "Flare Wingman has another effect. When it sends a monster to your graveyard through battle, the attack of your destroyed monster comes right out of your life points."

"What—"

"You heard me," Judai cut in. Judai watched as the attack came through and left a wall of smoke. When it cleared, he did not expect to see Lisa still standing with her hands on her knees and her head hanging.

She looked up at him with a smile on her face. "Wow, Judai! You _are _as good as they say."

"But how'd you survive?" Judai questioned her.

"Oh, that was because of my trap, Sakuretsu Armor. First it negates the attack of one of your monsters," Lisa explained. "But that's not all, it also removes from play the attacking monster."

"Okay, but before you do that I play the quick-play spell diffusion, so your Sakuretsu Armor, no longer has a target," Judai countered.

"But your forgetting something, Judai," Lisa said. "If you do attack my Harpie Lady 3, you won't be able to attack again for two more turns."

"I don't plan on attacking again," Judai laughed. "Not after this anyway. I play Instant Fusion, so I remove Burstinatrix and Avian from play to summon another Elemental Hero - Flame Wingman. And I equip him to the spell card Element Sword, so it gains 800 attack points when battling a monster with a different main-type."

"An awful attempt to defeat me," Lisa said. "I'll still have plenty of points left even if you use that equip card." Flame Wingman destroyed her monster and Lisa's life point counter ended at zero. "But how?" she asked surprised.

Judai grinned. "When Flame Wingman destroys a monster, just like Shining Flare Wingman, your monster's attack points come out of your life points."

Lisa stood in shock for a moment. Then she nearly laughed out loud. "That was fun, Judai," she said. "We should duel again sometime."

"You were a tough opponent," Judai said. "But I have a question…"

"What's that?" she asked him.

"Um…well… what was that card you drew?" he finally got out. "You didn't look so good when you saw it."

Lisa held it up so he could see, not looking at it. She had a feeling if she did something like what happened this morning would happen again.

Judai looked at the card and gasped. "How'd you get a Ghost Dragon?"

Lisa frowned. _So that's what it is. Ghost Dragon_. Then she returned to the real world. "I hate to say this, but I have no clue…"

"Oh." Judai strolled over to her. "I'm just asking because I dueled a guy with Ghost Dragons before. His name was Tanjiro. I think it might be his."

"I'm sure it is," Lisa answered. "It's not mine."

"You know him?"

She was about to say, "yes," but something stopped her. Lisa didn't want to have to give the card back Tanjiro. She didn't even want to get near him. "Um… I don't think I do," the red-head lied.

"If you want, I can give it back to him," Judai said. "I know him."

Lisa smiled. "Okay, Judai. Thanks." She handed him the Ghost Dragon card without even glancing at it. "We better get back to class now."

"Yeah, my friends might be missing me," Judai said. Lisa started to head toward the doorway. Judai went with her and smiled. "Wanna race?" he asked.

Lisa started to run. "I get a head start," she yelled glancing back. The halls were a lot easier to maneuver through when they were empty.

"No fair!" Judai whined, racing after her.

xXx Back in Class xXx

Lisa sat with her chin in her hand. Her elbow rested on her desk. She and Judai had came very late, and the teacher gave them one more chance before detention.

But that wasn't what upset her. Lisa was hoping she'd see Edo in this class, but his seat was empty. Was he doing this to her on purpose? Avoiding her until he believed she had forgot him completely. It wouldn't work. Lisa would never forget the day she met Edo.

She had to admit, he was interesting to her. His true personality was so hidden from society, and that intrigued her. She had discovered the true motives of everyone she had ever known, but that one Pro duelist gave her a headache whenever she tried it with him. Lisa couldn't help but try to discover his true feelings deep within his heart. Then maybe she could find a way to interest him as well.


	7. Denial

First I'm thanking people in alphabetical order (so no one better get their feelings hurt by the order…jk) anyway:

Huajun Chen for reviewing

Inu-yusukekaiba102 for adding my story to the alert thing

Micheal the Archangel for reviewing

Setoglomper for adding me to favorites, my story to favorites, and my story to the alert thing

And I'd like to thank the other two reviewers who reviewed b4 I had to delete my story 4 a second.

Thank you so much, all of you. And if I missed anyone on that list, shoot me right now…jk. And also I thank anyone else who took time to read my story.

All right, here's chapter 7, so all EdoxOC fans beware… but still read… (to self) great, now I just scared away half of my readers…

Read and review and ENJOY (the most important part).

Chapter 7 – Denial

xXxRed DormxXx

Lisa stood by the doorway of Judai's dorm room. It had been almost five days, and Edo had not been seen for a while. She remembered him saying he would be gone in the Pro League by the end of the week. Maybe he had gone early. It was the weekend now, so Lisa needed something to do. That was why she stood at Judai's door. Maybe if Edo wouldn't talk to her, Judai would.

Finally the door opened, and Judai's head popped out. His brown eyes looked at her curiously.

"Hi, Judai," she greeted.

"Who is it, Aniki?" Shou asked also appearing at Judai's side.

"Lisa," Judai replied, shifting his gaze to Shou. "She's a freshman. I dueled her a while back." He then smiled at her. "Lisa's also the reason I missed class that day."

"What?!" she exclaimed, teasingly. "You're the one who made _me_ skip class."

"Same thing."

"Is not!"

"Is, too!"

"Is not!"

Kenzan showed up behind Shou. "Could you guys take this somewhere else? I've got homework to do."

"Homework?" Judai asked backing down from Lisa to throw a look of confusion at him. "I thought you didn't do homework."

"Kenzan and I changed our minds," Shou explained. "We wanna graduate this school and make it to the Pro Leagues, and we can't do that unless we make it to Obelisk Blue."

"Okay… and when did this happen?" Judai asked.

"Last Monday," Shou answered. "After our exams."

"Our grades have gone up since then, too" Kenzan added.

"From an F to a D," Judai laughed. "Anyway, you guys do all the homework you want. Even mine if you get bored," he joked. "But I'm gonna go talk to Lisa."

"See ya, Aniki," his two friends said as he stepped out and closed the door.

"So what's new, Lisa?" he started.

"Not much." Lisa and him linked arms and started to climb down the stairs. "You?" she asked.

"Same."

For the past five days, Lisa and he had talked together after lunch. Judai always came to class in the morning, but then skipped it along with Lisa in the afternoon. It was kind of nice. They talked about each other's decks, the faults of all the teachers, and the past years (although that was mostly Judai talking).

And then during class, the two shot funny faces at each other to pass the time. When one of them got in detention (most of the time, it was Judai), the other would somehow end up there, too. And since Shou and Kenzan were so obsessed with school these days, no one knew the difference.

"Hey, Judai?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why does Edo stay here when he's a Pro? He's already been through all of this." They were strolling the side of the ocean, up on the rocky cliff.

"Dunno. Why do you ask?" Judai said as he stopped walking. Lisa turned around to look at him. The sun was setting just like it did when she had spoken with Edo, except with Judai it was different. It was more… laid-back and relaxing rather than nervous and tense.

"He said he was here for the Press," Lisa explained. "He was lying, and I was just wondering if you knew the true reason. You did tell me you became sort of half-friends with Edo last year, didn't you?"

Judai sat down, his legs dangling of the cliff. After a moment, Lisa joined him, and they both stared at the sunset. "I did." Judai put his hands behind his head. "But he didn't really tell me his whole life story. Actually the most I knew about him I found out from other people."

"Oh…" was Lisa's simple reply. "But I have another question for you."

"What's that?"

"Why doesn't he tell others about himself?" Lisa replied. "His feelings seem so hidden all the time, he never lets anyone know anything about him, but why?"

Judai shrugged. "I really don't know Lisa." He paused and his voice became more cheerful. "But I do know something, something really, really important…" he trailed off

Lisa raised an eyebrow at him.

Judai looked as though he was holding in a ton of laughter. "You're ticklish," he finally said as he reached over and tickled her.

Lisa burst out laughing and Judai let his own laugh out, too. "Stop it, Judai…stop it," she said crying tears of laughter.

"Never!" he teased.

"Oh, yeah? You're ticklish, too," she pushed his arms away and tickled him. After the war of tickling began and ended, Lisa and Judai were exhausted, and both lied back against the ground. Soon it started to get a little dark.

"I better go, Judai," Lisa finally got up.

"I better go, too," Judai agreed. "See you tomorrow then, Lisa?"

She nodded. "Of course, Judai-kun." It was the Japanese suffix you used for a close friend. Even though Lisa was American, she still knew Judai would like being called that. To her satisfaction, Judai smiled at what she said, and then they both started walking their separate ways.

Lisa's Obelisk Dorm room was closer to the center of the island, so she had a much longer route than Judai. And soon it would all be on an uphill path. As she started to pass the lighthouse, the wind started blowing fiercely against her, so Lisa held her jacket closer to her body and folded her arms. The wind was so strong that Lisa could only take only a few steps at a time.

Then the wind started to grow a little darker, like it was outlined, so she was able to see it more clearly. Lisa finally stopped because she couldn't see a thing in that darkness. Then a shadow of something materialized out of the random dark wind. It looked like a black ghost. Her red hair fell half-way out of its bun due to the wind. Screaming out loud, she fell backwards as the black nothingness moved toward her and through her body. Her scream became a shriek of pain when it totally engulfed her body and seemed to take control of her soul. Lisa suddenly heard racing footsteps toward her, and miraculously the shadow disappeared, almost like it was… annoyed with whoever was coming.

The red-haired girl didn't know what happened next. She just saw an outline of a figure kneel down beside her. She also felt her body shivering violently due to the slight breeze left by that strong wind. After a few seconds Lisa became more aware of what was happening and realized that she was moaning. Stopping immediately, she opened her eyes and saw the figure who had showed up just in time to save her. "E-Edo…" Her voice sounded hoarse. Lisa cleared her throat. "What are you doing here? I thought you were…" _Gone_, she mentally finished.

"I heard your scream," he said after a moment. "What happened?"

No response.

He felt her forehead. "You have a fever," Edo said. "Can you walk?"

There was still no response, but, nevertheless, Edo waited for her reply. Suddenly Lisa started crying. "Edo… you ask me all these questions, but… but you won't answer mine. I-is it so hard to just tell the truth?"

Edo sat there with his usual mask on as always, but Lisa could somehow sense he was thinking. Why wouldn't he voice his thoughts out loud? She needed him to do something, anything. Finally she sat up in anger.

"_Say something!_" she yelled at him when he didn't move. Then she realized what she had just said, and her cheeks turned a solid red of embarrassment. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to yell at you." But her eyes, filled with tears, betrayed her.

"What will it take to get you to stop crying?" Edo asked at last.

Lisa's eyes widened in surprise. _Is he really asking me this? Will he really answer my questions? I might as well find out_. "Why did you sit with me five days ago in the cafeteria? Why did you say hi to me when we both happened to be near Chronos's class? Why did you help me out in the halls like you did just now even when no one else would? The truth, this time." Lisa felt better to finally ask all of those questions out loud.

Edo smirked. "Is that all?"

Lisa nodded stiffly. "So are you going to tell me or what?"

"Listen, Lisa, and, please, try to understand," Edo responded, suddenly becoming serious. "The reason you think I did all those things doesn't exist. It all happened by chance."

"What? A person who used to believe in destiny now talks about chance?" Judai had told her about last year. "But helping me out that one morning wasn't chance. That was your own free will." Lisa looked at him intensely. "Why? There has to be some sort of reason."

"It's because you were hurt, and it's not right to leave someone like that," Edo explained. He saw Lisa's face grow upset. "Lisa… I'm sorry, but I only helped you because it was the correct path of justice."

"Of justice?" She looked incredulously into Edo's eyes. It was then she knew he wasn't lying. "That's all it was? Being a hero?"

Edo remained silent.

"What is wrong with you?" she kept demanding from him. "Don't tell me you base your whole life on something as stupid as justice!"

"I'm sorry if it upsets you, but I do," Edo said calmly although there were traces of anger on his face. "But I wouldn't expect you to understand. Someone who's never struggled in their life, never lost something precious to them. And that's not my problem. So I don't care if you don't get it!" he suddenly snapped at her.

Lisa's lip trembled. "But I'd like to get it, Edo. Please tell me." It was night, and the worst part was it started to rain after a loud crack of thunder. Lisa's face became wet, but she was glad. It hid her tears from Edo.

"I'll walk you back to your dorm," Edo said helping her up, "but from then on we'll pretend we never knew each other. Okay?"

_No. It's not okay. I need you._ "Okay," she trembled. Her steps were unstable at first, but with Edo's help they began a quick pace toward the Obelisk Blue Dorm. No matter how fast they moved, however, soon the two were soaked.

Then they finally made it to her room. At that point, Lisa's legs gave out due to the attack earlier. Edo lifted her into her bed. "Remember," he said. "We don't ever talk about what happened." Lisa could only nod, she was so exhausted. Edo started to leave.

"Wait, Edo!" she cried out suddenly and winced at the energy it took from her. "I'm sorry…"

"For what?" he asked without turning around.

"For everything, I guess. I was a fool…" Lisa felt the tears come to her eyes again.

"No, Lisa." Edo turned to face her. "It was me. I led you on when I should've told you from the start." He opened her door to leave. "Bye."

"Can't we, you know, pretend like we'll see each other tomorrow?" she asked suddenly. "Does it hurt to just say something like see ya or talk to you later?"

"Bye, Lisa," he said as he stepped out into the hall.

"Bye, Edo," she whispered, not knowing if he even heard her. She lay in her bed for the rest of the night, at first unable to go to sleep, and then not able to wake up. She dreamed of he and that dark ghost dueling, and her, unable to stop them, only able to watch. When she finally woke up, she didn't remember how the duel ended. And she couldn't remember what had happened to Edo…

The End

Hahahaha. Lol, jk jk. THIS IS NOT THE END.

Remember that, EdoxOC fans (crickets chirp) if there are any. jk. It's not over till the last card is played, right? There's still many more EdoxOC moments to come, seeing as how that ghost thing is going to get mad if there aren't… I don't want to get on his bad side… so i'll write this on his good side. D

Next up is Chapter 8 – Premonitions.


	8. Premonitions

haha. made u wait a little longer 4 that one. i kind of had a loss of heart, and didn't feel like writing it anymore this chapter ends it...

lol, jk jk. i just got sick 4 the past day or so and couldn't work on it. that's also y this chpt is a little shorter than the others, but still enjoy. :-)

Chapter 8 – Premonitions

xXx Lisa's Dorm Room xXx

It was the same dream every night… the same duel, the same duelists. Lisa always knew she was there when it ended, but she couldn't remember… And why couldn't she move to help? That dark ghost she remembered from the night a few days ago was dueling Edo Phoenix. It felt like a shadow game, but Lisa wasn't sure. It wasn't like the loser would lose their souls, but something else...but every night she awoke with the same question. Who won?

This time she awoke because of a sharp knock at her door. Yawning, Lisa got up and answered it. "Hello?"

It was Tanjiro, who stood there, smiling down at her. Lisa closed her eyes. "I don't want to talk to you, Tanjiro." She started to close the door.

"You're sure? It has to do with Judai…" he attempted to get her attention.

She stopped half-way through closing the door. The door wasn't shut, but enough to block her sight of him. "What about him?"

"He's worried about you," the student explained. "You haven't been showing up for class, or, for that matter, showing up anywhere. He hasn't seen you for a long while." Tanjiro gently pushed the door back open. "Judai also told me if I happened to find you, I should tell you."

"Yeah, but he didn't tell you to come and purposely stalk me in my dorm room, did he?" Lisa retorted.

"Nope. I chose to do that myself." Tanjiro reached out for her hand, and Lisa jerked away. "Come," Tanjiro said. "I'll bring you to Judai."

"Whoever said that _I_ wanted to see him?"

"Oh, Lisa, I know you do," Tanjiro whispered softly. "I sense it deep within your heart. You feel betrayed by Edo, so now you're looking to Judai for friendship."

"In your dreams," Lisa sternly responded. She had nearly become accustomed to him knowing everything about her by now. "I don't care about Edo. He was a jerk to me."

Tanjiro chuckled. "That's not what your sleepy side says."

"What?" she snapped.

"You call for him in your sleep. I heard you just a few moments ago." His chuckle turned into an emotionless laugh. "You nearly screamed."

Lisa did nothing but glare with her green eyes.

"I wonder what Edo would think of you if he heard that," Tanjiro continued. Then he rolled his eyes. "Humans. So emotional. Except one of them isn't. That little Edo of yours. He doesn't feel a thing for you."

Out of complete rage Lisa slapped him on the cheek. Tanjiro didn't even flinch. "_Stop it_!" she screamed at the same time.

"But it's true," Tanjiro said calmly.

"_You're lying!_" Lisa exclaimed. Then she felt sad and broke eye-contact with him. "You… you have to be… Edo helped me that morning for a reason. When you…" She looked up and if looks could kill, Tanjiro would be long gone. "When you gave that cursed book back to me, you _damned liar_!" Lisa couldn't control herself any longer. He was just standing, calmly looking at her with those dull blue eyes. "You set this whole thing up, didn't you? You did something to that book, so Edo would act as if he actually cared about me. So I would like him back. Wait a second, you _stole_ my book. I didn't lose it, _you stole it_! Then I went back to Chronos's class to get it, and…and Edo was there, too. I don't know how, but somehow you knew he would be there…" Everything clicked into place. She sank down the wall into a sitting position, sobbing. "_You're_ the jerk. Do you have any idea what you put me through? What you put _Edo_ through?"

Tanjiro sat next to her, and Lisa was to obsessed with her thoughts to care. "Listen, Lisa. I _was_ lying. Edo does like you."

"Yeah right," Lisa cried. "No one knows who or what he likes. If he _does _like anything."

"Someone has the power to find out what he likes…"

"Oh? And who's that?" Lisa snapped back at him.

Tanjiro smiled. "Why, you are, Lisa. You do realize you are the only person in the entire world who has ever got him to tell you about himself? Remember that night, a while back, before Edo was gone in the Pro Leagues." He chuckled. "Before your depression. You got him to tell you his true feelings."

"If those were his true feelings, then you weren't lying," Lisa commented. "He _does_ hates me…"

"No, he just doesn't know what he feels himself," Tanjiro objected. "Edo masks up all his confusion with false personalities. Which, I've noticed, you can break through."

Lisa frowned. "How did you know about that night? No one else was there except…" She stared up at him with wide eyes.

He laughed. "Except me," he finished. He put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her in, so Lisa was leaning against him. "I can help you get Edo back."

"Get away from me, Tanjiro," she ordered as she stood up, pointing in the direction of her doorway. "Get out!"

"You are sure that you want to lose this opportunity?"

She nodded quickly. "Yes, I'm very sure." _His offer wasn't what she wanted. Befriending Edo with secret help from Tanjiro would be cheating…wouldn't it? _"Out! Or I'll report you for trespassing," she warned.

"All right, then." Tanjiro got up and turned to leave. "Goodbye, Lisa."

She watched him close the door behind him. _No, don't let him leave_, she screamed in her head. _He may be right._

_But I don't know what I want! And I shouldn't get stuck in a situation like that._

_Listen! Getting a little help to steer Edo and you on the same path isn't cheating. Either of you can choose to walk away._ Lisa burst through the door. "Tanjiro! Wait!"

He turned around, a slight sense of surprise on his face. But it looked a little faked. "Lisa? What is it?"

She bit her lip. _Don't say it…_But she had to. "I want your help to get Edo back," she burst out.

Tanjiro smiled to himself. _You never had him_, he replied mentally. "Really," he said instead. It was not a question. "If so, I suggest we find out when he's coming back."

"How can we know?" Lisa was startled. Edo could be gone any amount of time.

"That won't be difficult. You know." She opened her mouth to speak, but he intervened. "Trust yourself, Lisa. He won't stay away from this school for long. It's because of the reason he stays."

Lisa thought hard. Why would Edo stay at this stupid school? Why not just cancel his enrollment? That would fix the problem with the Press. But all of the sudden she knew. Everything made sense even her premonitions, revealed in her dreams. She finally could remember how that same nightmare every night ended. Lisa looked up at Tanjiro, who was smiling encouragingly at her. She had to admit, she was scared, but she had a feeling Tanjiro would know what to do.

"I know the reason he stays," she said.

------------------------------

Sorry for the kind of short chapter, but I had to end it there. What a cliffhanger? Well, to me it was, and unfortunately, I haven't even started the next chapter, so it might take a while… But I hope you enjoyed this. It was fun writing.

Also I guess from here on out is why I rated it T, but I'm kind of strict on rating things, so it probably won't be that bad. Don't let that funky letter scare you away. but things _are_ gonna get darker…kinda like it did in the Harry Potter books. There's a reason I called this Darkness Within…and now it's just beginning. xD mwahahahahahahahaha.


	9. The Phoenix Returns

On second thought, from here on out is _not_ why it's rated T. haha, lol, maybe next chapter…. maybe…. I promise I'll warn you first though.

Btw, Edo x OC fans (y do I feel like I'm talking to thin air when I say that:P), the Phoenix is coming back. (I guess I'll just talk to Edo's imaginary fans. I have a slight feeling that I'm one of his only true fans. No wonder I get so little reviews.)

And congratulations to you 6, I think who have stayed w/ this pointless block of text until the very end…jk (I scared them all away again!!) I'd like to particularly thank the NEW people who took the time to add me and this story respectively in their favorites:

Mokon & StarPup

And thank you the rest of u again that I mentioned in chpt…7…(which includes all other readers who have only read it.) btw. I do save all those alerts I get on who's reviewed and all that other stuff. Cuz I really appreciate my story actually being liked.

Thx again guys (… or girls. But my friend calls me, a girl, "dude," so it's all good…)! Now enjoy!

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Chapter 9 – The Phoenix Returns

xXx Hallway (before 1st Class) xXx

Judai, Kenzan, and Shou were walking down the hall to the first class of the day. Several other students were similarly heading to class while rummaging through their bags or reading books as they walked. Some even finished late homework while they strolled down the hall.

"Why do you always come to class in the morning now, Aniki?" Shou asked.

The brunette shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I'm worried about Lisa. She hasn't shown up anywhere for a while."

"Lisa?" Kenzan asked, scratching his head. "Who's she again?" He paused as Judai stopped walking and was staring down another hallway. Shou stopped walking as well. "Aniki?" Kenzan continued.

Judai was studying two students across the hall. One was someone who Kenzan and Shou remembered to be Tanjiro, and the other they assumed was Lisa. They weren't talking, but they weren't ignoring each other either. Tanjiro looked quite satisfied, once in a while looking at Lisa, but Lisa looked lost in thought and a little sad. Judai turned back to his friends.

"Do you guys mind if I catch up later?" he asked. "I haven't seen Lisa for a while, and I want to make sure she's okay…"

"No rush, Aniki," Shou comforted. "You never show for class anyway. Let's go, Kenzan." Judai's friends followed the crowd toward the first class as Judai ran over to Tanjiro and Lisa. She didn't look up or take any notice in Judai at all.

"Um… hi, Tanjiro," greeted Judai, throwing a glance at Lisa. "What's up?" _Maybe if I talk enough she'll notice me…_

"Hi, Judai," replied Tanjiro, ignoring the later question. "I'm assuming you want to talk to Lisa. I don't want to intrude. See ya." The dark-blonde left before Judai could say anything. As Tanjiro left, Lisa finally seemed to become completely aware of what was happening.

"Judai?" she asked as her eyes flashing around in confusion. "What… where am I?"

"You're heading to history, aren't you?" Judai said. "What's wrong?"

Lisa swallowed and then looked around, this time nervously. "Can we talk somewhere else, Judai?"

He nodded. "Of course." The two went down and sat in an empty, unused area of the hall. They sat down and leaned against the wall. "What's wrong, Lisa?" Judai asked in concern.

"I don't know…" she said, closing her eyes. "I really don't. It's like I'm having…" Lisa trailed off.

"What? Bad grades?" he joked to break the silence.

Lisa's eyes opened angrily, and she stood up, hands on her hips, glaring at him. "Judai, I'm not kidding. Something is very wrong!"

Judai took her hand and gently pulled her back down. Lisa made no effort to resist. She felt too… weak? Her hand felt… fragile…

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "Now really. What's wrong?"

"I have these… blank spots where I can't remember anything." She took in a deep breath. "Afterwards, I feel tired that it's hard to keep my eyes open. Then there's the dream…"

"Dream?" he wondered out loud.

"No. More like a nightmare, Judai-kun."

Judai raised his eyebrows. "You're joking about all this. Right?" Lisa didn't move, silently telling Judai what he wanted to know. "So you aren't about to tickle me?"

"Judai—"

"Sorry. So what happens in the nightmare?"

Lisa bit her lip. "I can't remember. I just know I had one that was really bad, and that's it." She shook her head, and let out a nervous laugh. "You probably will think I'm crazy, but I don't think it's a nightmare. It's real somehow…"

"Do you remember anything else about it? Anything at all?" Judai said more seriously now that he realized something really _was_ wrong.

"Edo's in it, Judai."

"What?! Edo? What happens?"

"I told you. I don't know!" Lisa yelled at him. Then she turned a bright red. "I'm sorry, Judai. I'm just really scared."

"It's okay," Judai replied, looking at her. "But why do you think it's not a dream?"

"Because… well… it feels… so clear, so concrete. I don't usually even remember my dreams." Lisa rolled her eyes at herself. "You won't believe me. But please try. Somehow I know it's gonna happen."

"I believe you, Lisa." Judai smiled, remembering his dream of Kaibaman and how it came to be true. "It's happened to me before."

Lisa nodded, swallowing. A few silent moments passed. "I think I remember the first part," she said quietly. "Edo's dueling someone… I think it's a shadow game."

"Do you know who he's dueling?"

"Yeah, it's this black ghost type thing…no…wait a second… I-It's…" Lisa attempted to remember. She tried to recall seeing the opponent Edo was facing. Then she realized she never saw the enemy because… she could only see _Edo_… she was facing Edo's direction, but why? Lisa gasped in understanding and clutched Judai's hand. "Judai. His opponent is…"

"Who?" Judai urged.

"Me, Judai," she said in fear. "It's me. I'm his opponent." Lisa bit her lip again to hold back her tears. "What if something happens, and I hurt him…?"

This time Judai outright laughed so hard, he almost fell over backwards. Lisa couldn't help but let out a smile, but then it turned into a frown. "What?" she demanded.

Recovering from his laughter, Judai ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. "If you really think you could defeat Edo in a duel enough to hurt him, or even defeat him at all," he said, still half-laughing, "then no wonder you're going crazy."

Lisa smiled again after letting out a sigh. "You think so?"

"Apparently you've never seen a Pro duel," Judai commented. "Especially Edo. He's supposed to be one of the best."

"You're actually right on how I've never watched a Professional duel," she answered him. Judai noted she seemed more relaxed now. "I don't watch Pro dueling at all," Lisa said. "Being a Pro doesn't make you invincible. Anything can happen…"

"You know what? I think the same thing. A duel isn't over till the last card is played. Anything _can _happen when that dream of yours becomes real," Judai replied to receive a playfully angry frown from Lisa.

"Way to make me feel better, Judai-kun," she teased.

Judai shrugged. "I doubt you'll do anything to hurt him," he said. "He even beat me once." But Lisa wasn't listening anymore. All the emotion on her face had disappeared and her eyes didn't move. "Hello?" Judai waved a hand in front of her eyes. "Lisa…?"

Tanjiro abruptly came around the corner. "Hello, Judai," he greeted. "The teacher sent me here to tell you not to be late to your next class."

"Is it that time already?" the brunette asked.

Tanjiro didn't answer as he strode over to Lisa and pulled her up by the arm. She didn't even try to pull away, and stayed unmoving as she stood next to him. Judai caught a glance at a swirl of darkness winding around the point where their hands were linked, but it disappeared in a flash.

"What are you doing to her?" Judai demanded.

"Nothing, Judai," Lisa answered, startling Judai. "It's nothing."

_It has to be something_, Judai thought. _Otherwise, she wouldn't be talking at all…even though that makes absolutely no sense…_

"I better go, Judai. Later." She allowed Tanjiro to pull her away.

"Bye," was Tanjiro's simple word before parting.

Before Judai could reply the two were gone. "Lisa…" he whispered to himself a few moments later. "That guy is nothing but trouble." What Shou and Kenzan had said a week and a half ago, he realized, was right.

xXx Chronos's Class xXx

"Slacker! Pay attention!" Chronos ordered. Judai woke up with a start. "See me for your extra homework after class," the teacher continued, glancing at Judai's two friends and waiting for their well-known reaction. He was surprised when they continued to listen speechlessly to his lesson.

Ten minutes later, class was dismissed, and Judai awaited Chronos's extra homework assignment. To his great disappointment, it was an entire, two-paged essay on only one card. Groaning, Judai left the class wondering whether he should actually complete that assignment.

Judai was looking at the name of the card on the paper Crowler had given him and trying to remember what it's effect was when he bumped into Lisa. She had just been standing there looking out of the wall-sized windows. Tanjiro was nowhere to be seen, but she was still acting the way she usually did when he was around.

"Sorry…" Judai said, not wanting to provoke her in her present state of consciousness.

Lisa shook her head and started to walk away. Then she stopped and turned around, tears on her cheeks. If it was anyone else but Judai, they might have ran away seeing as how her eyes looked darkened and blacker. Even her red hair, which was, for once, hanging loosely around her shoulders, looked a darker shade now, giving Lisa a whole different appearance. She seemed colder, angrier, more… mean in general. But somehow he knew she wouldn't hurt him. Not _him_, but maybe…

"Judai," she whispered simply. Her voice, however, was trembling. "What's happening to me?" She took a few steps toward him.

"Are you feeling okay?" he countered, taking an involuntary step backwards.

Lisa's lips pressed together as she shook her head, still making her way toward Judai. Her gaze didn't ever lower.

Judai took another step backwards except this time he did it on purpose. "Maybe you should rest?" he suggested, putting a cheerful smile back on his face. He noticed the hall was getting emptier, making him a little nervous on the inside. But he didn't show it.

Lisa was standing right in front of him now as she glared up at him with her dark green eyes. "_What_ is happening to me?" she demanded sternly.

"Well, I'm not exactly… sure," Judai stalled, smiling and laughing nervously, as he ran a hand through his brownish hair, but suddenly he felt the tension around her lift. He let out a sigh in response as she seemed to remember where she was. "Maybe you should rest," Judai repeated.

Lisa smiled. "I'm fine. Why?"

"Um… well… no reason," he got out. "Do you remember anything after we talked this morning?"

She took a long moment to think, her smile fading. "No… I had another blank spot, didn't I?" But she didn't wait for him to answer. "I think it's over now, Judai. It feels different… I'm not scared anymore. It feels like it's over… but how could it be?" she rambled on in circles. "Something's changed around here. Otherwise…. wait a second, I think—"

"What are you talking about?" Judai interrupted, teasingly. But Lisa started running off in the direction of class, and a clueless Judai followed behind her. "You're heading toward the meanest teacher in the whole school?" Judai questioned her. The halls were now completely empty, and class had undoubtedly started.

They got close to the doors, and Lisa gave up on running and started a quick walk. The teacher's loud and stern voice could be heard from around the corner.

"Now pass in your homework, and if it wasn't your best effort, I'll give it back to you," he ordered. "That includes handwriting, Mr. Evans," he continued to receive a groan from the student. "No back-talking or it's detention for you."

Lisa peaked her head around the corner, and Judai did as well. The door was open so that they could see the entire class sitting in their desks, and the teacher was marking checks down on his clipboard, obviously doing the roll call.

"What are you doing?" Judai whispered, careful not to be loud enough for the teacher to hear. He knew the teacher would be furious if he found two students—not to mention one of them was a Slifer Red student—just standing in there in the hallway when they should be in his class.

The red-head, however, wasn't listening. She was scrutinizing the rows of the students, apparently looking for someone. Suddenly Lisa, whose cheeks turned as red as her hair even though she was smiling, pulled Judai back behind the wall.

"What was that for?" Judai teased quietly as soon as she had pulled him out of sight.

She shrugged, sadly looked down at her feet, and finally shuffled nervously away. Judai caught up with her and put a hand on her shoulder. The girl turned around. Her appearance was still darker, but what really caught Judai's attention was how disappointment influenced the features on her face.

"What is it?" Judai asked, trying to find out why she looked gloomier so fast after she had been smiling.

"My blank spots…" she answered sadly. "They're not over, Judai. They've just begun."

Judai was too speechless to reply or follow as she walked away. It was that Tanjiro… Something was up with him… and Lisa. Judai knew that he had to find out soon before someone got hurt.

He peered around the hall and into the class again to see whom Lisa had been searching for. His eyes glanced over each of the rows until he found someone looking back at him. That someone looked confused and a little vexed over something…What was it? Judai understood immediately: seeing Lisa looking at him before was what was bother him.

And that someone looked away right as Judai saw him, even more annoyed. But what did he have to do with the blank spots? Judai didn't know the answer, but now he did understand the reason Lisa was worried about him in her dream and why she believed her blank spots were temporarily over. He knew whom Lisa was studying the isles of students for. Because that someone was Edo. The Phoenix had returned.

-------------------------------------------

Wow! That took a lot of work! I'm finally over my "loss of heart" (if u remember, I was temporarily ill, but that temporary-thing felt like forever!!), so hopefully more chpts soon. Except I've finally caught up with myself and rarely have the next chapter started. I'm also working on writing duels, so while that happens, it's easier for me to just … well, have none. :P but, of course, there will have to be at least some. What's a Yu-Gi-Oh GX fan fiction without duels? So I'm already planning at least three big ones and possibly even many more smaller ones.

Now then. All I have to say is, you keep reading the chapters, and I'll keep writing 'em. D … I hope anyway cuz I'll probably write them either way. See ya, next chapter.


	10. The First Task

This chapter took a lot more time… probably because of my summer reading ( I still have half of the book and 6 days to read it). And since school for me is starting next Tuesday, I don't know when I can get new updates… however, few readers, there are, so I doubt it will matter too much. :P lol

Setoglomper – YaY! An Aster fan! What do you know? I'm not the only one in the world. lol, jk.

Anyway, enjoy chapter 10, everyone…. D

* * *

Chapter 10 – The First Task

xXx Lunchtime xXx

After the last class before lunch, Edo decided to head back to his boat. He was more than sure Lisa would be in the cafeteria waiting for him. After all, he had caught her staring at him from the hall when he came back from the Pro Leagues and was able to attend the third class of the day.

_It's not like I'm afraid_, Edo told himself silently as he walked down the halls, ignoring all the fan girls looking at him. _I'm only avoiding her, so she doesn't try to change my mind_. The Pro duelist stopped as he saw another student in front of him, blocking his path. He looked up at the student, who had warm, brown eyes, and his hair was the same dark color, but lighter on the top.

"Judai!" Edo said in surprise. "What are you doing here?" He faked a calmer personality while deep down he felt a little nervous. Socializing wasn't exactly his thing unless it was on television.

"No offense, but I was sorta at this school before you were, so _I_ should be the one asking you the same thing," Judai answered cheerfully. "But anyway, what do you know about Lisa?"

"What?" Edo asked angrily. How did Judai know? But then Edo remembered the brunette staring at him right after Lisa had. _So they've become friends…_Edo realized. "Why do you ask?" he demanded in order to change his first question.

"Well, I think something's happening," Judai answered, seemingly understanding Edo's anger.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Judai continued, "that Lisa's in trouble… because of this other student who is somehow changing her. She's been having a dream about—"

"Listen, Judai," Edo cut in. "I'll say it once, and it better not come up again. I don't care about Lisa. I never have. So stop thinking I do."

"—you. Her dream is about you," Judai spoke quickly at the same time.

Edo was about to finish by leaving Judai, but then he fully realized what the brunette had just said. "Hold on. Did you just say her dream was about me?"

"Yeah, it's about you…" Judai could've flinched from the cold stare Edo seemed to be giving him from the inside. Then he realized why. "Um… It's not like that," he continued. "It's not like that at all." Judai half-laughed. "It's just a duel… she said it was between you and her. Do you know anything about it?"

"No," Edo countered quickly. _Almost too quickly_, Judai thought. "Of course not," Edo kept going, noticing how Judai suspected something. "It's _her _dream, and besides that, it's just a dream."

Judai didn't lower his gaze. "Lisa doesn't think it's a dream. She thinks it's a premonition."

Edo smirked and started to walk away. "That's nonsense, Judai. Dreams are just dreams."

"So when Saiou predicted he'd defeat you, that was all an untrue prediction?" Judai nicely called after him to give a counter-example. He didn't know how much of a mistake he had just made until the Pro duelist turned around. Judai continued to smile cheerfully, despite how moved he was at the expression on Edo's face.

The expression was unique, a mix of emotions… Judai still couldn't grasp how just one person could feel so much at the same time. There was sorrow, regret, anger… even a bit of jealousy reflected in those icy, blue eyes. It was the first time Judai had ever caught a glimpse of what was deep within Edo's heart. Obviously, Judai had hit a sore spot with his words, he had found an Achilles heel… but was the jealousy directed toward him and why?

"Don't ever say that again, Judai," Edo warned quietly but firmly. "Do you understand me? Don't you _ever_ say that again."

Judai understood Edo's words as soon as he had spoke them. "I'm sorry, Edo… Really, I am…"

Edo nodded stiffly, his facial expression once again becoming opaque. "I'm going," he said emotionlessly. "La—"

"Judai!" came a voice from behind him. "The Slifers said they don't have a good enough duelist to take the Obelisks on. They accidentally provoked them, and now the Obelisks want a duel. We need you!" Judai saw Lisa running up to him and stopped right beside Edo without realizing it. Then she did a double take at the Pro and blushed deeply. "Hi—" she managed before receiving a cold glare.

"Don't," Edo retorted.

"But—"

"Just don't," Edo cut off and started to walk as fast as he could away from the two people who, deep down, annoyed him most. He could almost feel Lisa's solid stare bearing down at him along with Judai's as he walked down the hall.

"I don't want to hurt you, Edo!" Lisa nearly screamed at him after he took several steps. Many students threw glances at her direction and then at Edo. _Great_, Edo thought sarcastically. _This is just what I want. _He stopped, but didn't look back at her.

"I thought we had a deal," he started, "that we wouldn't talk to each other anymore."

"Edo… I-if anything happens… anything… don't…" Lisa stopped.

"Don't what?"

"Don't be the hero," she whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "Just be yourself."

_But being a hero is being myself_, Edo mentally told her. _Isn't it?_ It had to be. His whole life was spent bringing criminals to justice. It was who he was, and that was that. What was Lisa talking about? Edo decided it was high time to leave. So he continued to head down the hall, stiff and proper in his gray suit and tie. He went toward the exit… and from there toward his boat… to spend some time alone and, most of all, to think.

Lisa's dream was bothering him. Not because it was about him, about a shadow duel, or about anything else that happened in it. The simple fact that bothered him was that Lisa's dream wasn't just Lisa's dream. She was not the only one who saw it.

xXx

That whole time, Judai had just stood there. Ever since he realized how upset he made Edo with those simple words of him losing to Saiou, he wished he could take back what he said. How should he have known that Edo was angry about not being able to save his friend, that Edo was jealous of Judai for being the hero that day, that Edo felt like a fool for becoming a hostage, which almost ruined everyone's lives for an eternity?

And then, when Lisa came, Edo had seemed to close up completely like she wasn't even there. Now he heard them talking, but was to obsessed with his thoughts to comprehend what they were actually saying. He lost himself in his mind for several minutes.

"Why doesn't it work on him, Judai?" Lisa asked suddenly.

That woke Judai up completely, and he saw that Edo had left. "Huh?" he asked sheepishly.

"I-I can usually understand what people are feeling… You know, whenever I happen to make a friend, they tell me things, things about themselves that no one else knows. I guess it's 'cause I don't try to make friends that often, so when I do, they trust me. But why won't _Edo_ talk to me?"

Judai shrugged. "He's just… weird…" he answered, deciding to tell her more about it later. "But what was that you were saying about the Slifers?"

"Oh, that," Lisa said as they started to walk back down to the cafeteria. "You see, we kinda told them that no Obelisk could beat a Slifer. I guess that made them mad. And now we need someone to back up our threat."

"We?" Judai questioned.

Lisa grinned. "I hang out with the Reds more. And the Blues don't really consider me as one of them anymore."

They reached the cafeteria and Shou popped up in front of Judai. "You're here! You ready to duel one of the Blues to prove that we're the best?" he asked.

Judai shook his head. "Nope."

Shou's face grew surpriesed. "What?!"

"I'm tired of everyone depending on me. And you guys were right. _Any _Slifer can beat _any _Blue. You're gonna duel that Blue, Shou," Judai explained. "And you're gonna win."

Lisa's eyes widened as she saw whom the Blues had chosen to duel. "But that's Arisu, Judai! She's good! I don't even think _I _could defeat her and I'm an Obelisk."

"You know her?" Judai asked.

"Yeah! She's in my dorm! She was a freshman this year, but she used to go to a Prep School. And I don't think she's dueled anyone without winning."

"Shou will beat her," Judai countered. "Won't you, Shou?"

"Um—"

"Come on," Judai cut off. "Go get your game on."

"… O-okay…" Shou laughed nervously as Judai pulled him along toward Arisu. "Are you sure about this, Aniki?"

Judai nodded. "Of course I'm sure, Shou. That Obelisk might never have lost, but there's a first time for everything, right?"

"R-right… I guess," Shou agreed nervously. "But hold onto this." Judai looked at the card Shou was holding out to him.

He shook his head. "No, Shou. You need that card."

Shou let go of the card and let it fall. Then before Judai could pick it up and give it back, Shou had run ahead and activated his duel disk. Lisa peeked over Judai's shoulder. "What's the card?"

Judai turned it in her direction. He had picked it up from where it had fallen on the ground.

"Power bond!" Her eyes widened. "He doesn't want that card in his deck?!"

Judai shrugged off the question. "Let's go watch." Judai and Lisa found an empty table to sit at and watch the duel in the cafeteria.

"All right, Arisu. Get your game on!" Shou shouted a little weakly.

"Whatever, wimp. You can't even intimidate anyone when you shout," Arisu said. She moved one of her stray brown hairs back into place, a look of arrogance in her bright hazel eyes. "Now let me show you what a real duelist can do. Slifer Reds are the bottom of this school."

Shou smiled, closing his eyes and folding his arms. "I wouldn't go telling a senior how things run around here. After all. I've been here longer."

"Let's just duel," Arisu countered angrily.

Shou and Arisu activated their duel disks at the same time.

xXx In the Woods xXx

"You have returned to the island, Master," Tanjiro said.

The cloaked man nodded. He had snuck in when no one was watching for him. Everyone expected him to be dead. It had been almost six months since he had disappeared from the public. "I came to check on your progress," the man explained. "How close are the girl and my enemy?"

"Not very," Tanjiro answered, hesitantly. "I think I released the darkness on her too soon. Your enemy left for a week, and I took that opportunity. I believe that I was wrong to hasten the process. I'm sorry."

"There is still a chance," the man said. "What is my enemy's status when he is around the girl? Confusion? Or anger?"

"I… don't know," Tanjiro explained. "But if I can somehow get some of the darkness in him as well, I will be able to find out what he's feeling. If I could just get the girl to touch him."

"But wait!" the hooded man realized. "Couldn't that prove fatal if you try to force it too much? My enemy doesn't have much darkness inside him. He has committed few sins."

Tanjiro shook his head, chuckling. "Don't worry. It could result in temporary death if I forced too much, but I only need a little darkness in him. That will only cause the human to be slightly different. Just slightly."

The man smirked. "That will not be too much of a problem." His smile faded. "Now listen. If you feel any kind of confusion, any at all when the girl is around him, then it is good enough for me. After that you will take complete control over the girl, and then contact me before she and my enemy duel. Do you understand?"

A firm nod came from Tanjiro. "Yes, Master. But remember your promise to me."

"I won't forget," the other reassured. "Now go and complete your first task, and I will give you part of what you want afterwards."

"Very well," Tanjiro agreed. "Until then."

* * *

You know, this fan fiction might be a whole lot longer than I thought. Part 1 is taking forever :P but the longer, the better, right? Actually wrong, it depends on quality, but that's okay. This is my first ever posted FAN fiction. I do write fiction, but fan fiction, I've noticed, is much harder. Anyway, I hope my readers enjoyed Chapter 10. Now for another duel :( wish me luck, people. The next duel will be a whole lot better than my previous ones. :D 


	11. Tag Team Preparation

So. Greetings. I bet you all thought this fic died off…. I thought it did too for a while. Lol. I apologize for the late update. I have no excuse :-P I'm not gonna blame it on my computer or my schoolwork (cuz I finish that at school) or my business with my family… yeah… I'll just blame it on my own laziness … lol … WHAT?! Okay fine… I blame it on my growing obsession of Naruto and that cute guy called Sasuke… he's awesome. But anyway…. Yeah. Thanks for reviewing, those of you who did… I'll get around to usernames later, but those of you who guessed who the villain is… so close… yet so far… (no really, it is getting kind of close :D.)

I also apologize if there are more mistakes in this chapter than the last one… cuz I'm kind of out of habit of using their Japanese names, and I sort of proofread this later than I usually do, needless to say… "laughs nervously"

But… okay, everyone. Here comes another duel, so beware. I promise though, this will be a much better duel than the last duel. k? k. I worked hard on it, so no flames. (:-P oh great, here they all come. Everyone does know saying no flames actually brings them on, but I've used that joke way too much… it's just funny cuz I see "No flames" or "Flamers are not welcome… it makes me want to flame them, but I'm too nice… others aren't so anyway… I've strayed from the topic enough) enjoy… or else… jk

xXxxXxxXx

Chapter 11 – Tag Team Preparation

"I'll go first if you don't mind, shrimp," Arisu insulted. She looked at her card and smiled. "Watch this. I summon Plant Beast – Tulip in attack mode." A tulip with yellow eyes in the middle of one of its petals and sharp, nasty teeth below them. "Then I play one card facedown, and let you go." She smiled haughtily. "I just hope you're at least half as good as your brother Ryou. Otherwise, I'm wasting my precious time with a wimpy Slifer Red."

Arisu seemed to have lit a candle inside of Shou when she mentioned Ryou. "Don't bring my brother into this," he warned.

"Why? You too upset he's gone?" she teased. Shou glared back.

"Who's Shou's brother?" Lisa asked Judai.

"Kaiser? He used to be a Pro duelist," Judai explained.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Used to?"

Judai looked down sadly, for a moment ceasing to present his cheerful persona. "He went through a change. Edo Phoenix defeated him, and Kaiser went on a losing streak," Judai said. "He became… evil, I guess. He only cared about winning, but for some reason he never sought revenge on the people who defeated him. Now we call him Hell Kaiser. And he enjoys pain… have you ever heard of underground duels?"

Lisa nodded gravely. "That's where they do hell duels. When someone loses life points, they're electrocuted. It's illegal."

"Yep," Judai agreed, and looked back at her. "Kaiser enjoyed pain like that."

"You're talking like he's dead, Judai-kun," Lisa responded.

Judai's gazed drifted to Shou. "Never mind," he said simply. "Let's just watch the duel."

Lisa nodded and turned her attention back to Shou.

The blue-haired Ra Yellow drew a card. "It's my turn," he yelled and took a quick look at his cards. "I summon my Submarineroid in attack mode. He can attack your life points directly."

"Hold it right there," Arisu interrupted. "I activate my trap Decomposition. I can activate it when you declare a direct attack." Arisu's life points decreased, but a white puff of smoke next to her Plant Beast – Tulip alerted Shou's attention.

"What's that?" Shou asked.

"My trap cards effect," Arisu said plainly.

"You didn't gain a single life point from the card's effect," Shou reminded.

"No," Arisu agreed. "But I did gain a monster. Rise! Plant Beast – Daffodil!" As the name suggested a long flower with yellow petals and a green stem appeared on the field.

Arisu – 3200 LP / Shou – 4000 LP

"Okay…" Shou replied sadly noticing its high attack points. "Submarineroid shifts to defense mode, and… that's all."

"Pathetic," Arisu replied arrogantly.

Suddenly Lisa and Judai noticed two people walk up to them.

"Hey, Judai-kun," Asuka greeted. "It's been quite a while."

Judai smiled sheepishly. "It has," he said. Then he turned to the muscular "dino-man" beside her. "Hey, Kenzan."

"Shou is dueling, Aniki?" Kenzan asked surprised. "Why aren't you?"

"Shou hasn't dueled since…" Judai's eyes flickered toward Lisa as if he didn't want to say it in front of her. "I thought maybe dueling was just the thing he needed."

"You're right," Asuka nodded. She finally glanced at Lisa for the first time. "And how do you know Judai?" she asked pleasantly but suspiciously because of Judai's precaution with what he almost had just said before.

Lisa seemed to notice their hesitation to let her in on the conversation and stood up abruptly. "Apparently, I don't know Judai as well as you think I do." Then she meaningfully walked away and sat somewhere away from them to watch the duel.

Asuka and Kenzan sat down on opposite sides of Judai when Lisa didn't look back at them.

"She's Lisa," Judai replied to Asuka's question. "I just know her because we both happened to be sitting alone at lunch one day."

"You don't trust her?" Kenzan asked curiously.

Judai shook his head. "It's not that I don't trust her, but I'm worried about something else that's been happening. I don't want to risk talking about things that other, more dangerous people might pick up."

Asuka nodded. "Since when have you become so smart?" she teased.

Judai laughed. "I guess just for right now… trust me. I can have my smart moments here and then."

"So you think there's a new villain around, Aniki?" Kenzan asked Judai.

"I think I already know who the obvious one is, but… I think there might be one behind all this… who isn't so obvious if that makes sense."

"Sure, it does," Asuka replied sarcastically, but her eyes continually studied the duel in front of her. "But look! Arisu's making her move!"

Arisu drew a card and smirked up at Shou.

"W-what?" Shou stuttered.

Arisu slapped the monster down on her monster card zone. "I summon Plant Beast – Rose!" The red, round flower grew up as tall as the other monsters one the other side of Plant Beast – Tulip. "And I'm sure you know what that means. Now Plant Beast – Rose! Attack his Submarineroid."

The enveloped petals immediately opened up and swallowed Submarineroid, destroying it.

"Now my Plant Beast – Daffodil and Plant Beast – Tulip can attack you directly!" Arisu continued. Shou held his duel disk up from the attacks as the flowers lashed out with their leaves at him. "Then I play one card face-down," she finished, "and end my turn. Go right ahead and lose, you pathetic shrimp.

Arisu – 3200 / Shou – 500

Shou's head was hanging, and Judai became worried. Shou was known for giving up early as Judai had discovered in his previous duels with him. "Hey, Shou! Don't give up! You still got life points left, don't you? You can still win this!"

Shou looked up a small smile on his face. "Thanks, Aniki," he responded. Then he drew a card and put on a sad face as if he drew the wrong card, but Judai, having known Shou for two years, could tell he was just faking, trying to build up his opponent's boastful arrogance.

"What's the matter, shrimp?" Arisu kept at her insults. "Can't draw the right card even after your cheerleader's little speech."

"I play Jetroid in attack mode," Shou said as he ignored her comment. "And now you can go."

"W-what?!" Arisu asked, stuttering for seemingly the first time in her life. She was obviously surprised at Syrus's "lame" move. "B-but…" then she smirked. "Fine, if that's all you Slifers can do, I'm not going easy on you, or I'll be wasting my time." Arisu drew from her deck. "This duel is over," she claimed at sight of her drawn card. "I play the spell card, Growth of Plants. You know what that does, shrimp?"

Shou did not respond as an answer.

"Well, if you don't care, I might as well make you care. It sacrifices all three of my Plant Beasts in order to summon Ultimate Tree." The three already-out flowers grew higher forming branches into a fiery tree. "Now it can attack you directly! Go!"

Syrus smirked with his usually nerdy smile. "You forgot something. When my Jetroid is on the field, I can activate trap cards from my hand. And you know which one I'll choose? My Magic Cylinder."

Arisu stood stunned at his sudden words. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again in a flustered manner.

"Which means," Shou continued, "that this duel is over. You lose 3700 points."

Arisu – 0 LP / Shou – 500 LP

Arisu fell to her knees as the plant's attack was directed right back at her. Then the crowd of Slifer Reds that had gathered cheered for Shou in an uproar. The Obelisks, on the other hand, looked somewhat depressed and angry at their undefeatable freshman.

Shou ignored the cheering, and walked up to Arisu. He saw that she was crying a little. "You're nothing like your brother Ryou…" she told Shou without looking at him. "You're short, you're lame, nerdy… You even have glasses for god's sake. But you're very good at dueling, shrimp."

"First thing," Shou announced to the girl, "don't call me shrimp. My name's Marufuji Shou. And second thing. Like Jaden has always told me, the first time you lose is the step to getting back on your feet." The blue-haired duelist held out a hand.

Arisu laughed amidst all her tears. "You're not tall enough to help me up," she teased, nicely this time. Then she helped herself up. "Thanks for waking me to reality, Shou." Then she walked away, probably heading to the classes that were almost ready to start.

Shou ran back to Judai, excitedly. "I did it!" he yelled.

"Way to duel, Shou," Judai said, patting Shou on the back.

"Thanks, Aniki," Shou replied.

Asuka and Kenzan walked over and praised Shou, but Lisa remained seated on the bench far away from them, deep in thought.

"By the way, Judai" Asuka said suddenly, "I should tell you since you missed class. Principle Samejima has a surprise for the school, and after classes he wants to announce it in the stadium."

"Really? I wonder what it is," Judai wondered cheerfully. "Maybe another tournament."

"You mean like the one last year," Lisa asked Judai. She had gotten up, finally over her sulking from earlier, and joined the discussion.

"Yep. You'll think it's fun if that's what it is, of course."

"Well," Asuka said, "I better get to class. It'll be starting in a few minutes." She started to walk off.

"Me, too," Kenzan added, and Shou followed him out of the cafeteria.

Judai shrugged. "Maybe we should, too, Lisa. By the way, I'm sorry for being kind of rude to you earlier. I'll try not to do that again," he apologized. Seeing Lisa's acceptance for the apology, Judai started to catch up with his three friends.

Lisa stood still watching him as he walked ahead for a moment, and then she ran to catch up with him. "You think Edo hates me?"

Judai glanced at her, at first surprised, and then he laughed. "What's this talk about Edo all the time?"

She shrugged. "It feels like he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you," Judai answered. "You see, his father was murdered when he was a kid, so he sorta tries to hide himself. He doesn't want people to know he's still upset… That's my guess anyway."

"Oh. Didn't you say he thought he was the chosen one last year?"

Judai nodded. "I think his whole future turning out to be mine instead of his must've gotten to him. If he hates anyone, he hates me. And he's stopped talking to me like he used to last year, so I don't think he likes me at all."

They saw the strict, female teacher's classroom and headed toward the doorway to it.

"Actually, Judai, I think it's just the opposite," Lisa argued as they made it to the classroom… early, for the first time in a week.

Judai stopped as he stepped on the first stair and looked back at Lisa. "What do you mean?"

"I think he looks up to you," she whispered in a sudden quiet manner, glancing behind her.

Judai looked back as well and saw Edo walking to his seat, hands in his pockets, staring at them suspiciously. Judai's voice turned down to whispering as well. The last thing he would want is for Edo to know what they were talking about. "What?" he demanded quietly.

"Think about it," Lisa continued. "You saved the world in his place, you rescued his friend. You even, at great cost, saved his life. He just seems like he hates you because he doesn't want to admit those things to himself."

Judai shrugged. "Maybe…" He walked off and took his seat next to Kenzan and Shou while Lisa took her own. She realized she sat a close to Asuka as she glanced at the blonde girl, Judai had told her about a long time ago. Back at Shou's duel, she recognized her just from Judai's descriptions. Asuka smiled, and Lisa smiled back. Then she looked away.

She looked around the class for Tanjiro, but he wasn't there… strange… Lisa wondered what he was up to now. It was a mistake to ask for his help that night, and, worst of all, she couldn't remember what she had discovered about Edo's motives and her dream. Tanjiro must have turned that into a blank spot as well.

Suddenly she realized class had been going for a long time, and everyone was looking at her. Including the female teacher.

"Miss Trinity, please answer the question," said the brown-haired teacher.

The redhead realized she must have dazed off in thought and didn't hear the teacher speaking at all. "I didn't hear it," Lisa told her as her face turned almost as red as her hair.

"Ah, I see. I believe you should pay better attention then," the teacher reprimanded. "Let's change your assigned seat for a while… go sit by…" Her eyes grazed the rows of students studiously until she decided on a trustworthy student. "Go sit by Mr. Phoenix," she said finally. "I'm sure he'll keep you in line."

No, not him, anyone but him, she begged silently. She would give anything to even sit next to the meanest bully in the entire school and suddenly regretted following Judai to class. Why didn't she skip class this one time? She picked up her things and proceeded toward the empty seat next to the silver-haired Pro.

I hate her. She's too strict to be a teacher, Lisa vented in her mind. Her eyes didn't even glance toward Edo as she sat down next to him, and neither did his eyes. She saw Judai's worried glance in her direction, but ignored it. The girl sat down, and the teacher continued her lesson. Asuka answered the question in her stead thankfully.

Whatever the teacher was hoping to accomplish wasn't working, because sitting her next to Edo, was not the best way to get Lisa to focus. Wondering if he would ever notice her at all, she kept glancing at the Pro. Finally, she gave up and rested her head on her hand, staring off at the wall.

After a few moments, Lisa heard Edo speak quietly to her. "Lisa…"

She looked at him, and realized the teacher had once again tested her focus with another question. Man, she's good at that… she decided to herself.

The teacher looked expectantly at her for an answer.

"Um…" she started.

"Witch of the Black Forest," Edo whispered almost silently.

She repeated his answer in a nervous voice. The teacher nodded, though hardly looked satisfied as she glanced at the Pro duelist next to her. She continued asking the rest of the class questions.

"Edo?" she spoke to him quietly.

No reply.

"Edo…"

Still no reply, but Edo did acknowledge finally that she was speaking to him.

"That could've got you in trouble," she said.

He shrugged. "You would've definitely been in trouble if it wasn't for me," he said quietly.

Lisa smiled. "Well… thanks, by the way."

Edo looked back to the teacher's lesson, but Lisa caught a small, "no problem," before he turned away.

The rest of the lesson, Lisa focused on listening well. She didn't want to get stuck relying on Edo again. After class was over, Lisa quickly grabbed her things to get away from Edo as fast as she could.

"Miss Trinity, I would like to have a word with you," the teacher said before Lisa could get out through the door. Then the teacher turned to the blue-eyed prodigy who had just managed to get down the stairs. "I would like you to stay for a moment as well, Mr. Phoenix."

Lisa inwardly groaned, but kept a clear face.

"Mr. Phoenix, I hope you realize you have just involved yourself in cheating," the teacher remarked as soon as the rest of the class had left.

Lisa's cheeks again heated up in embarrassment but had a feeling that Edo didn't want her to say anything, so she kept her mouth shut.

"As for you, Miss Trinity," the teacher continued, causing Lisa to look up suddenly. "You didn't have to listen to him. You could have just told me you didn't know. That was very irresponsible of you."

Lisa nodded, and afterwards she quickly glanced at Edo. He didn't seem to be angry with himself or embarrassed for what he did. He just stood there, uncaring… Lisa mimicked him and decided not to worry too much about it.

"Your punishment," the teacher told Lisa, "will be an F for participation today, and the highest you can get on your next test is a C+."

So much for my idea of not worrying about it, Lisa told herself in her head. Then she noticed Edo's slight reaction to this. It was regret, but not for himself.

"And you, Mr. Phoenix. You initiated the cheating, which means yours shall be greater. A C+ as well on your next test, and detention tonight. Do I make myself clear to both of you?"

They both nodded quickly.

"Good. You're excused." The teacher sat back down at her desk and started to correct papers.

Lisa started to head out, thoroughly convinced that Edo now definitely hated her and deciding that her former impression of the teacher being "strict" was wrong. The correct word would be horrible!

"If you don't mind, ma'am, may I speak to you alone?" Edo asked.

Lisa glanced back at him. He had not moved from where he was standing as though he was about to argue with her.

"If you're trying to explain yourself, Mr. Phoenix, I don't have time for it."

"It's not about me," Edo said. Then he glanced at Lisa. She took his hint and left the room, shutting the door.

Lisa leaned against the wall in anger. That was the last time she would drift off in class. A few seconds later, Edo walked out of the door and started to walk down the hall.

"Wait!" Lisa called after him.

He stopped and looked back at her.

"What did you do?" she asked.

"You're not in trouble anymore," Edo responded. "I told her that you said the right answer, and I was just trying to get you to say the wrong one."

"What? But wouldn't that get you in more trouble?" Lisa asked him.

Edo shrugged. "Just another night of detention. I don't really care."

"But you said you needed good grades to keep your reputation," Lisa reminded.

Once again, Edo shrugged off the question. "Come on. Next class is the last one, so it's better not to get in trouble again."

"Thanks, Edo," she mumbled as she proceeded to catch up with him to the last class of the day.

"I'm gonna miss Principal Samejima's announcement because of detention," Edo started. "I wonder what it's about."

"I'll tell you," Lisa replied. "When I go… why are you talking to me now?"

Edo didn't answer, so Lisa didn't bring it up again.

After several minutes they made it to the class. It was just starting, so they had made it barely on time.

Before they entered the door, Edo stopped her, and whispered something to her quietly, so quietly, she could barely hear it. "I'm worried for you, Lisa. You're right about your dream… it is real…"

Lisa stood in shock for a moment as Edo quickly left and took his seat in the classroom. Then she saw Judai in his seat, looking at her curiously.

She shook her head and went up the stairs to where she herself sat as Judai took the hint and let it go.

xXx Auditorium for Announcement xXx

Judai, Shou, and Kenzan sat in three empty seats in the auditorium, Jaden talking excitedly.

"Hey, slacker," a voice came from the row behind them, "you better shut up before the announcement."

The three turned around in confusion, and saw a black-haired teen with a black jacket. It was Manjyome.

"Hey, Manjyome!" Judai greeted ecstatically. "I haven't seen you for the longest time."

Manjyome smirked. "I wonder why," he remarked sarcastically. Then he sat down on an empty chair. "So. Have you seen Asuka lately?" His black eyes became filled with an obsessive-crush-type emotion.

Kenzan and Shou rolled their eyes at him, but Judai didn't seem to notice. "Yeah, she watched Shou win that duel with us," Judai explained.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" a feminine voice spoke up.

Manjyome jumped up at it, and attempted to remain cool and composed. "Hey, Alexis, what's up? You wanna sit with me for the announcement?" His words rang with hidden love.

"Get a life first," Asuka countered, sensing his longing for her. Then she sat next to Judai. Manjyome somewhat angrily sat down behind them all.

A few seconds later, Principal Samejima took the stage and started speaking into the microphone. "Students, I hope you are enjoying Duel Academia this year because I'm about to make it even better."

Judai leaned forward in excitement as Manjyome rolled his eyes at the brunette.

"As most of you know, last year we had the Genex Tournament," Samejima continued. "For the rest of you, you'll soon find out what it was like. This year, it is going to be much different."

The already overjoyed Judai grew even more cheerful when he heard that it was going to be different. Shou and Kenzan looked at him in confusion at how he could be so excited over tournaments.

"Instead of single duels, there will be tag-team duels. This time it will be called the Tag Team Tournament," he announced, drawing everyone's attention with those last few words.

"Tag team, huh," Asuka commented. "This will be different."

"Different? This will be sweet!" Jaden exclaimed.

Manjyome groaned. "More like lame, loser."

"The rules are," Samejima cut in, "one duel per week instead of last year's one duel per day since it's harder to organize tag team duels and do class work at the same time. Every student must have a partner. If you want to duel alone, then you may do so at the risk of losing medals that are both yours and your partner's. Now this is where it gets a bit confusing. If one of you lose, but the other wins the duel for you, the opposing team gives one medal. If both you and your partner win, you get two medals. Same goes if you are participating in a single duel. But anyway, to finish it off, I hope you all have fun. And good luck." Excusing the students, Samejima left the stage and mostly everyone started to get out of the auditorium.

"Wow! This will be one great year!" Judai exclaimed. "Now I just need to choose a partner."

Several students walking up the isles were glancing in Judai's direction. Everyone but Judai himself knew that Judai would have no trouble getting a partner. All he had to do was ask.

"So, who wants it?" Judai asked out loud, waiting for one of his friends to reply. Instead there was a dead silence, Manjyome being the first to break it.

"I'll be your partner, Asuka," Manjyome said hopefully. "Please?"

Asuka glared at him, and Manjyome was suddenly afraid she would deliver one of those well-known slaps or "outbursts of anger" if he said one more word.

"In your dreams," she said right before leaving to get away from the black haired Slifer Red.

Meanwhile, after a lot of fighting over Judai, Kenzan and Shou decided that neither would partner with Judai and so they formed an alliance and became partners for each other.

Judai then looked at Manjyome. "If Asuka won't be your partner, I will, Manjyome," Judai suggested.

Manjyome was about to refuse, but gave more thought to it. "Fine, I'll be your partner if you really want it that bad," he said grudgingly. Then he stalked away with the few remaining students that were left in the auditorium.

xXxxXxxXx

All that time, Lisa had been watching them. She had wanted to ask Judai to be her partner, and Judai being the naïve teenager he was, couldn't refuse even if they had been on bad terms today. But he had other friends, closer to him than she was and better at dueling than she was. Then she saw the brunette became partners with Manjyome. Smiling sadly, Lisa left to find Edo and tell him the news.

xXxxXxxXx

A/N – okay… I have a really bad feeling that you guys are all gonna kill me because of that last sentence here… um… Yeah, it's not gonna be what you think… like "Hey, Edo guess what?! There's gonna be a tag team tournament!!" Lisa "Wow!! Really?! I need a partner!! We can be partners!!"Edo ……. "rolls eyes" yeah right. In their dreams… literally (jk) but… um… yea, that's not completely it, so… don't worry. Now I've forced myself to practice duels, and I can now get better. So keep reading, and if you have time, reviews are always awesome.

xXxxXxxXx

New Cards Used in this Duel

Plant Beast – Tulip (Normal Monster Card)

Level: 4

Attribute/ Type: Earth/ Beast

ATK/ DEF: 1700/800

XXX

Plant Beast – Daffodil (Normal Monster Card)  
Level: 4

Attribute/ Type: Earth/ Beast

ATK/ DEF: 1800/ 800

XXX

Plant Beast – Rose (Normal Monster Card)

Level: 4

Attribute/ Type: Earth/ Beast

ATK/DEF: 1900/ 800

XXX

Ultimate Tree (Fusion Monster Card)

Level: 8

Attribute/ Type: Earth/ Beast

ATK/ DEF: 3700/ 1800

Effect: This card can only be special summoned by playing the spell card Growth of Plants.

XXX

Growth of Plants

Normal Spell Card

Send the cards with names "Plant Beast – Tulip," "Plant Beast – Daffodil," and "Plant Beast – Rose" to the Graveyard and then special summon the fusion card "Ultimate Tree" from your fusion deck.

XXX

Decomposition

Normal Trap Card

Activate only when your opponent attacks your Life Points directly. Special summon on monster with "Plant Beast" in its name to the field after Battle Damage.


	12. Stand Out

A/N: I love my math class... i'm smart enough to learn it on my own, so i don't have to get confused by the teacher. Plus i can work on my fanfictions while i'm there cuz she doesn't care what we work on:-D that's the best part. So here's chapter 12, mostly done in my math class :D hope y'all like it.

xXxxXxxXx

Chapter 12 - Stand Out

Lisa immediately straightened herself from leaning against the wall as the detention doorway swung open, revealing Edo striding out.

"Hey, Edo," she greeted politely. "I'm so sorry about all this—"

Edo was already shaking his head. "You weren't the one who cheated. We already talked about this."

There was a moment of silence as Lisa pondered whether she should tell the teacher the truth or not. . . then she concluded what was done was done. She smiled. "Thank you," Lisa repeated from earlier that day.

"So what was the announcement about?" Edo asked after nodding to acknowledge her thanks.

Lisa's smile disappeared. "Um… there's gonna be a tournament," she stated in the simplest terms she could find at the moment. "A _tag_ team tournament. . . everyone is going to need a partner."

Edo took in her words emotionlessly, like he always did. "Thanks for telling me." He ended the conversation, shoving his hands in his pockets as usual and walking away.

"Wait! Edo!" Lisa called after him.

He looked over his shoulder curiously. "Yeah?"

What could she say? _If you're looking for Judai, he's already got a partner_, but then what if he thought she was attempting to get him as _he__r_ partner. No matter how much she had grown tno like Edo, she didn't feel like spending _t__ha__t _much time with him.

She realized Edo was still looking at her, waiting for a reply, but unfortunately she lost her time to decide on an answer. She fell to her knees in pain… it was similar to that one time when she met Tanjiro and afterwards felt as though her heart was on fire. But this time, her entire body shook in pain.

Lisa barely noticed that Edo, knowing he could do nothing, stood in front of her, waiting it out.

"Lisa. . ." Edo said softly after he knew she was okay. "What is going to happen?" The mask was slipping off, and Edo was struggling desperately to hide it. Lisa could tell. "You know who wins at the end of your dream, don't you?" Edo demanded, breaking into anger. "Why won't you tell me?"

Lisa stared at the ground she was kneeling on. "Because. . . you won't change a single thing, even if I _do_tell you. Please don't make me tell you, Edo. You really don't want to know."

Quickly gaining back his composure, Edo bent over and held out a hand to help her up. Lisa was about to take it when she felt a sudden urge not to touch him at all. Her hand shook and tried to grab Edo's hand as if it had a mind of its own. Suddenly Lisa couldn't see a thing, but opened her eyes to see herself standing up, holding Edo's hand, and seeing something in the Pro duelist's eyes had changed. She jerked her hand away from Edo in fear of what had happened when she touched him. Lisa knew she had just had a blank spot.

"You okay?" he asked her as he saw her sudden movement.

"Are _you _okay?" Lisa countered. Something, she knew, had happened to him when she touched him.

"Y-yes, I-I'm fine," Edo asked unsure of it himself. "Why wouldn't I be?"

His words confirmed Lisa's suspicions. The magnificent Edo Phoenix never stumbled over his words. "I dunno. You just looked like you had a head ache a second ago."

Edo acknowledged her statement with a nod. Apparently he had other things on his mind at the moment.

"How did you know about my dream, Edo?" Lisa asked curiously.

"Judai," Edo said simply. Then his tone changed. "Your dream Lisa… Be careful about it. Something is going to happen. We'll both have to be careful when the time comes."

Lisa sighed, fighting back the tears. "I know, Edo. . . I know."

Edo smiled falsely, trying to lighten the mood. "Why won't you call me Ed?"

"I. . . don't know." She tried to laugh as she shrugged. "I guess. . . well. . . I really don't know."

Edo nodded, his mask gradually sliding off, a little slower, though, than it had been before. Lisa noticed it seemed more fragmented than it had before she. . . touched him. . . She mentally cursed at herself for that.

"I better go now," Edo finally said after they had nothing more to say to each other. "Bye." He slowly strolled away.

"See you later," Lisa replied. While he was leaving, she mentally answered his question… _"Ed" is too small of a nickname for you, Edo. There's so much more to you than that. . . I won't call you Ed until I truly know you. _She smiled as he faded from view.

Now she had to find a partner for the tournament. That could be hard seeing as how she hardly knew anyone, and the few people she did know had better friends than her. . . except for—

_No!_ she told herself. _I already decided I didn't want that._

Thoroughly confused, Lisa started to head somewhere, anywhere. . . to do her homework. . . and to think. . .

xXx Judai, Kenzan and Shou's Dorm Room xXx

"I thought that since Manjyome and me were partners, we could hang out more," complained Judai, who was sitting on the bottom part of the bunk bed, and glancing through his deck. "I mean, we have to make it so are decks fit together, don't we?"

Kenzan and Shou were sitting on chairs next to the table, arranging through their own decks. "Of course, Aniki," Shou answered after putting one card in a certain pile. "The whole point of this tournament is working together. Some people have problems with that. And also Principle Samejima seemed to encourage us against single duels. . ."

Kenzan nodded. "Yeah, that's why we're rebuilding our decks with each other, Aniki," he added. "You should hunt down Manjyome and tell him to rebuild his deck with you."

Judai shrugged. "I'd rather not get him ticked off at me… we're gonna be with each other for most of the year now."

"True," Kenzan said, "But—"

Kenzan was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Judai asked.

"It's me," Asuka's voice sailed into the room.

Judai got up and opened the door. . . The blonde girl with honey-colored eyes stood waiting hopefully at his doorstep. "Um. . . hi. . ." Judai said, trying to think of words. "You wanna come in?"

"Uh. . . okay, sure," Asuka responded, taking a step in as Judai moved aside. Judai went back to sit on the bunk bed while Kenzan and Shou looked at the Obelisk girl curiously.

"You can sit down if you want," Judai said, gesturing to a chair. _Why is she so nervous? Asuka is never that shy_Judai watched as Asuka took the chair he was pointing at.

"So," the brunette began awkwardly. "What brings you here?"

Asuka smiled shyly. "I. . . well, I wanted to ask you something."

"And?"

"I was w-wondering if," she stuttered, "if you wanted to be my partner for the Tag Team tournament."

Judai almost gasped in shock, but managed to hide it with a cough.

"You okay, Judai?" Asuka asked.

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, I'm good. But. . ." Inside Judai felt awful. He had wondered why Asuka didn't know how he had partnered with Manjyome at first, but then remembered she had left before they came to that agreement. "You see, the thing is—"

Asuka sighed. "You don't want to be my partner, do you?"

"No, I—"

"Just say it Judai," Asuka interrupted, her pitch of voice revealing how upset she was. "You probably want to be Edo's partner, don't you?"

Judai became even more surprised when he realized how many people possibly wanted to be his partner. . . and he would have to refuse them all because he chose to be partners with a person who least wanted him. . . or so he thought.

"Asuka, listen."

The blonde looked down sulkily.

"I already agreed to be Manjyome's partner. . . I never cared too much about who my partner was. I just. . . was too quick to choose, I guess. I'm so sorry." This time Judai looked down. "It'd be kind of unfair for Manjyome to go and turn him down after I was the one to ask him in the first place."

Asuka looked up and was smiling a weak grin. "It's okay. I know you. You're too nice for your own good, Judai. But I've got to go find a partner before everyone's already taken up."

"What about Momoe and Junko?" Kenzan finally entered the conversation. He and Shou had remained quiet in order not to disturb Judai and Asuka until now.

Asuka shook her head. "They've been friends since they were three years old. They don't want to be partners with me because they've known each other longer. They'll probably partner up and leave me out."

"Well, let's see," Judai said, putting a thinking face on. "Who else is left? There's your brother Fubuki."

"No, he's graduated, and I don't want to spend the whole year with him."

"Um. . . then there's. . ." Judai's thoughts were soon interrupted by another knock on the door. "Come in! It's open," Judai called out, and his reply was the door slightly opening, and revealing Misawa Daichi.

"Hello, Judai," Misawa said. Then his facial expressions gravely lowered. "You already have a partner, I assume."

Judai nodded regretfully. "I'm sorry." Then the brunette's face brightened as he looked at Asuka, who nodded at him. "Asuka doesn't have a partner though," he suggested.

Misawa immediately lightened up. "Asuka? You would. . . want to be partners with me?"

"Sure," Asuka said. "I think I can handle the rest of the year with you. Just don't rant on about science and whatever that stuff is you talk about," she teased.

"Oh, I wouldn't dare. So it's a deal?" Misawa held out his hand and Asuka took it. As she and Misawa left Judai's room, she threw a quick glance at Judai.

"I'm sorry again," Judai mouthed to her, and she smiled and shook her head. . . in simpler words, Judai knew that meant, "It's okay."

A few minutes of silence passed between Judai and his two friends when suddenly another knock came at the door. Kenzan and Shou were thoroughly annoyed at all the visitors, but kept quite as Judai put his head in his hands. "Yeah? Come in," he said, wishing desperately for it not to be someone else wanting to be his partner.

The door opened for the third time in the past ten minutes, and Edo appeared, causing Judai to inwardly groan.

The brunette laid himself back on his bed, and for the first time, seemed like someone different from his cheery self. _You probably want to be Edo's partner_, Asuka's voice came clearly back to his head.

He never really thought about it, and wasn't sure if he wanted a specific person to be his partner, but. . . he did know Edo really only had once choice, unlike Manjyome, Asuka, Kenzan, Misawa, Shou and several other people. . . Edo's closest thing to a friend at this school was Judai.

"Are you feeling okay, Judai?" Edo asked politely.

Judai, for once in his life, stayed silent.

"Judai?" Edo repeated.

Kenzan and Shou sorrowfully glanced in Judai's direction. Being friends with Judai for a year taught them how to know what Judai was feeling, despite how weird the brunette was acting now. But they also knew Judai would want to sort this out himself, and so they continued organizing their cards.

Judai sat up. "I know why you're here, and. . . I'm sorry, but no—"

"I haven't even asked a question yet, Judai," Edo commented.

"—Manjyome and I are already partners," Judai continued. "I'm so sorry, Edo. I should've waited longer to decide on a partner. . . Really. I apologize. . ." He trailed off, trying to think of other possible candidates to be Edo's partner but came up with a blank list instead.

That whole time, Judai never once met Edo's eyes. When he finally looked up, Edo had his back to him. The Pro duelist left quickly, nearly slamming the door.

"I don't like this tournament anymore," Judai stated after about three minutes had passed. He lay back on the bed his arms covering his eyes.

"It's okay, Aniki," Shou comforted gently. "It's like Asuka said. You're too nice for your own good."

"Well, it's better than being Manjyome," Judai replied as he took his arms off his eyes, revealing a sad expression on his face. "He doesn't even want to be my partner, so all of these other people are getting turned down. Now Edo _really_hates me," Judai vented and remembered his conversation with Lisa on whether Edo hated them. . . wait. . . a thought struck him almost immediately.

Abruptly the Slifer student jumped up and nearly ran out the door in triumph.

"Where are you going, Aniki?" Kenzan shouted after him.

"Never mind," Judai yelled over his shoulder. "I'll tell you later!"

Judai ran across the school grounds, reaching the Duel Academia building and searched everywhere inside. Then he searched near the Obelisk Dorms, but didn't go completely on their territory. Then he stopped and decided to actually think. . . he ended up walking toward a certain place near the Slifer Red Dorms.

It was a special place, secluded by the forest that only left a tiny clear spot near the edge of the cliff. Judai paused as he stepped into it, seeing the red-haired girl he knew would be there.

He went and sat down beside her, but she didn't take her gaze off the sunset in front of them. His eyes gradually leaving the girl, Judai stared at the sunset.

"I don't have a partner for the tournament yet," Lisa said quietly. "I don't know anyone. . ."

Judai looked at her suddenly. "If you're asking—"

"I know you're already Manjyome's partner, Judai," Lisa said, her eyes never swaying from the ocean below and in front of them. "I wouldn't want to be you're partner anyway. I hardly even know you as well as your other friends do."

"That may be true," Judai responded. "But that doesn't deny you the right to have a partner. . ."

Lisa half-laughed. "More like the task to have a partner." She was trying to joke, but she didn't have the usual pleasantness in her voice. She looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. "I just want to. . . I don't know what I want actually. I guess I just want a partner for now."

Judai smiled. "I'm sure you'll find one. You just have to trust yourself. Don't be afraid to ask people. I'm sure lots of boys would want to be your partner."

"No they wouldn't," Lisa argued. "I have red hair. _Red_hair. It's so obvious and ugly, and I hate it!" She paused. "That's why I like the sunsets here. Everything turns red during the sunsets. My hair doesn't stick out as much."

Judai noticed that she had almost always kept her hair in a bun. . . like she wanted to make it as small as possible. But he decided to change the subject. "You know, I talked to Edo today. He wanted to be my partner."

Lisa gasped and immediately glanced at him for the first time. "What did you say?"

"Well, I had to tell him I was already Manjyome's partner," Judai supplied. "I kinda feel bad for him. He's got almost no one here. I have no idea who he will partner up with now that I'm out of the picture."

Lisa shrugged. "That's too bad for him."

"He lives in his boat at the lighthouse. . . You know. . . it's where all the boats go when they come here," Judai continued as he got up and started to walk away.

Lisa stood up, watching him leave. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

This time it was Judai's turn to shrug. He paused and looked over his shoulder at her. He changed the subject again. "Just because something stands out, doesn't mean it looks bad. And plus, you look nicer with your hair down, Lisa. If something does stand out, why not let it be the way it was supposed to be?" Then he finally left leaving Lisa in silence. . . he did, before he left, notice she started to fumble with the hair-tie holding her red hair in the bun.

xXxxXxxXx

**Edit A/N: There is an omake to this chapter in chapter 23 called "Unwanted." It's about how Edo feels about Judai turning him down. The rest of the story continues in the next chapter 13.**

A/N: Yeah, i'm kinda mean to Edo sometimes... laughs evilly just wait :-P anyway, i'll update chapter 13 as soon as i can. thanks to all of those who have kept reading this story, and to all of those who just started reading this story and liked it :-) basically thanks to all reviewers. i'll do a list of new people i wanna thank soon :-) so have a good weekend:-D


	13. Now or Never

A/N: Oh no! I'm SOOO dead now! Please don't kill me! I've already killed myself for this a hundred times! shows cut wrists see:-P lol cries yes, I did have this planned out 5 chapters ago. . . um. . . yeah. . . enjoy. . . thanks for reviews, too:-D Please don't stop reading cuz of this chapter and this chapter only. :-)

xXx Chapter 13 – Now or Never xXx

xXx In Class xXx

Lisa had done as Judai had said. She let her hair down that day instead of pulling it in a bun. For some reason, Lisa now felt better about herself. . . less confined to her physical appearance. She felt a kind of freedom.

She knew the teacher who was ranting on didn't care a single bit whether his students actually paid attention, unlike the others. So she knew there was no way, she could repeat what happened last time she dazed off in class, and decided she could look back at Edo without any worries.

In all honesty, she was worried. The Pro looked very angry at. . . someone. . . He was doing very well to hide it, but somehow Lisa could see his emotions emanating off his body. . . ever since that day she had touched him.

_Maybe it has something to do with the tag team tournament_, she decided in order to change her train of thought. But thinking about the tournament sent herinto a bad mood, all over again, once she remembered she still hadn't found a good partner.

Pondering what Judai had said the night before about having the courage to ask someone, Lisa tried to understand what to do next. She had no time, however, for class was excused at that moment.

Lisa was stepping down the steps to the door when a hand touched her shoulder, forcing her to stop. She flipped around to see who it was and immediately blushed. "Hi, Edo," she said. "What's up?"

He shrugged to reply and started to walk down the steps, Lisa trailing slowly behind him. He seemed like he had wanted to ask her something. . . but was too afraid of the answer to ask.

"Um. . . Edo?" Lisa asked him.

"Yeah?"

"What is it?"

"What do you mean?" Edo countered, apparently trying to avoid saying anything he was planning on before.

"Didn't you want to ask me something?" she explained.

He hesitated, pausing to decide if he really wanted to ask the question. "No," the Pro duelist finally stated. Then he continued walking away.

Lisa folded her arms and stopped following him angrily, but, at the same moment, Judai popped up in front of her eyes.

"So? What'd he say?" the brunette asked excitedly.

Lisa suppressed a laugh as she and Judai continued moseying toward their next class. "You're so funny sometimes, Judai," she commented. "And what do you mean, 'What did he say?'"

Judai acted as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Edo, of course. What'd he say?"

"I still don't get why it's so important. . ."

Judai laughed slightly. "I think you'll see soon."

"What are you talking about—"

Judai silenced her by shaking his head. "Never mind, you'll see when he asks. By the way, you're hair looks nice." The two were barely entering the class.

Lisa smiled. "Thank you, Judai. . . for everything."

"Sure," Judai answered. "No problem."

The two took their seats in the classroom, and waited through the last class before lunch.

xXx Right Before Lunch xXx

Edo watched as Lisa got up from her seat joining Judai, Kenzan, and Shou. He saw them pass a few words to each to her, and then Lisa watched as Judai and his two other friends left to get to the cafeteria.

Edo calmly stepped toward her after the brunette was gone. Lisa didn't even seem to noticed because she was so deep in thought, just standing there. "Lisa. . .?" Edo tried to draw her attention.

Lisa slowly did a double-take as she glanced at him. "Oh, hi," she said, and Edo almost wanted to smile at how she blushed every time she looked at him, but he kept his facial features composed.

"So who's _your_ partner for the tournament?" he asked.

Lisa's smile disappeared abruptly before her face tilted down. "I. . . I don't h-have one yet." Suddenly she did something very unexpected to Edo. She started pacing quickly away.

Edo caught up with her quickly. "What's wrong?"

Shaking her head, Lisa weakly smiled at him as she continued her fast pace away.

"Lisa, stop for a second," Edo said.

She hesitantly obeyed but did not meet his eyes.

This was it, now or never. "Lisa?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't have a partner for the tag team tournament either," Edo started. He saw her eyes lift up not in happiness but in fright. He continued anyway. "I don't really know many people around here," he continued, "and Judai's already got a partner. So I was just wondering. . . if you would be my partner."

Lisa looked shocked that he was asking this. Except Edo knew he didn't really have a choice. Everyone else had either graduated or partnered with each other. Judai himself couldn't think of any other options for him.

Lisa's eyes closed. "I-I don't want to… um—"

The same blonde, who had once tried to become Lisa's friend a long time ago in order to become closer to Edo had been listening closely and interrupted their conversation. "If _she_ doesn't want to be your partner, _I _will, Edo-kun."

Lisa turned angrily and glared. "Leave me alone," she said. "This is the fifth time you and your selfish friend bothered me."

The blonde laughed tauntingly. "I'm not talking to you." She turned back to Edo. "So?"

Edo continued to look at Lisa, ignoring the blonde.

Lisa's eyes filled with water, and she turned away. "Edo, I. . ." She faltered. "You're better off with her." Gesturing at the blonde, Lisa shuffled her feet away from the Pro. "I'm not a good enough duelist to be your partner, Edo. . ."

Sadly Edo watched Lisa leave, and after he looked at the blond who was waiting patiently, he got angry. The blonde was smirking at Lisa's hesitance to be Edo's partner, and, no doubt, was telling herself, "Edo's all mine now."

But she had no idea how wrong she was. Edo's blue eyes looked down into her brown ones. "If you ever talk to Lisa again, and I find out, you'll regret it."

The blonde girl looked somewhat surprised. "Oh, I'm sorry," she responded quickly. "I didn't know she was your friend. I won't bother her anymore."

Edo decided that she was anything _but_ a "dumb blonde" since she was able to recover from a hit so easily.

"But, Edo. I'll be your partner. I don't have one yet either." She smiled devilishly. "I'll make sure we'll win first place."

Edo glared at her. "I don't care so much about winning," he stated, "as I do keeping friends."

"Oh, but I'll be your _best _friend, Edo-kun." The blonde stepped in front of him as he started to slowly chase after Lisa.

"You don't get it, do you?" Edo explained since she wasn't letting him get around her. "You don't want to be my friend, you're just another _girl_ trying to draw my attention, and your tricks will never work on me. I have to go now, so move."

The blonde closed her eyes, sadly and moved out of the way. Apparently she knew when to give up.

Edo tried to stay calm as he hunted down Lisa. For some reason, ever since that day when he got out of detention, he had been having trouble with anger. Well, he was having problems keeping it deep down within his heart. . . somehow it was managing to surface, but just a little.

Finally, the Pro found Lisa sitting on a bench near a deserted area of the cafeteria. She was reading a book although it seemed as though she was just flipping the pages and rolling through the words rather than comprehending them. He sat down next to her, but she completely ignored him, her nose still in her book.

They just sat there for the longest time, Edo looking ahead, Lisa reading her book. Neither of them threw words at each other for several minutes until Edo finally decided to speak.

"Lisa—"

Lisa snapped the book shut and looked at him. "I can't, Edo, I just can't. You won't win if I'm your partner. Why don't you go be that one girl's partner?"

"Because I don't like her much," Edo answered. "I want you. Are you really choosing not to be my partner just for your own selfish reasons while at the same time you know I have no one else to turn to?"

"I'm not being selfish!"

"Actually, you are in a way." Edo didn't flinch in the least when Lisa glared at him.

Suddenly she put her head in her hands after placing the book on her lap. _This is what Judai meant_, Lisa discovered. _He told me not to be afraid to partner with someone better at dueling than me. . . but I still can't._

"Lisa, please be my partner for the tournament," Edo asked politely.

She bit her lip, still frightened she would mess him up.

"I don't care if we win," Edo said. "But I do care about at least participating in the tournament."

It took a long time, but Lisa finally nodded. "A-all right. . ." She seemed scared of something else now, something Edo knew about all too well. "It's going the way. . . He. . . wants it to."

"You'll be okay, Lisa," Edo assured her. "When this 'something' happens, we'll be ready."

She was shaking her head before he finished. "I _won't _be okay, Edo. . . neither of us will."Before Edo got a chance to ask what she meant, Lisa had a smile on her face. "Lunch is almost over," she said. "Wanna go to class?"

Standing up with his hands in his pockets, Edo nodded, and the two new partners strode to class.

xXx In a Dark Room xXx

"So?" the hooded man asked through a small, black phone. "Is the plan ready to unfold?"

From the other line, Tanjiro's voice loudly sneaked through the other line and into the acoustic room. "Almost," he said. "I just need her to duel someone. . . me preferably. . . and I want her to duel alone. I need to discover her strategy."

"That's all very nice, but you better quicken the pace. At this rate, the whole school will suspect you by the time the girl duels Edo. And I grow tired of waiting."

"With all due respect, we have waited six months. It won't hurt us to wait another few days," Tanjiro commented. "Plus. . . to everyone's knowledge in the school, I have seemingly disappeared. There will be no problem."

"Fine," the other man replied. "Just be sure to alert me when you are ready. And I mean, ready to carry out the plan for real."

"Of course," Tanjiro said quickly. "Our plan is bound to work with both of our patience and the precautions we have made."

"Yes, with one of my enemies it will work. . . that is almost a sure thing. But with the other. . . well. We'll just have to see."

xXx

A/N: Okay, I'm still alive. . . yeah. . . You know, in chapter 11, I think, well, I never said the little partner thing WOULDN'T happen. . . I just said it wouldn't happen like THAT. :-P lol. Read and if you have time, reviews are always welcome. ;-) g2g write a chapter for another fan fiction now. See ya:-)


	14. Memories

A/N: I'm not really a foreshadower in this story, so don't take this original character in this chapter as though it's foreshadowing. So basically, the main enemy has nothing to do with Aster's father, Aster's guardian, or stuff like that. Okay? Okay. ;-) Also, I was starting from this point on to change the card names to their Japanese names, but I don't know a good site to do that. . . So I only changed the few I knew (yeah, basically all of Edo's cards), but can anyone tell me a good site I can use to find the Japanese names of the cards:-D thanks if you do. Anyway, thanks again to all of you who reviewed, and I hope you all like chapter 14 :-D so sit back and enjoy.

xXx Chapter 14 – Memories xXx

xXx Outside Osiris Dorm xXx

Judai finally found Manjoume after school, sitting on the ground outside the Osiris Dorm. He was looking out at the ocean spreading under the cliff.

"Hey, Manjoume," Judai greeted casually and sat down next to the black-haired teenager. "The Tag Team Tournament starts tomorrow," he continued.

Manjoume rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know. What do you want me to do about it?"

Judai shrugged as he took out his deck and shuffled it. "Maybe we could set up our cards, so we can work together."

"Judai, you and I both know that neither of us are going to change our deck theme just for a lame tournament," Manjoume stated, standing up to leave.

Judai stood up quickly afterwards, smiling sheepishly. "But, Manjoume, we're supposed to be a team. And I never said anything about changing are deck theme. Maybe we can just look at a few possible combos we with our already existing cards."

Manjoume, about to walk away, turned back to Judai for a moment. "All right. Seeing as how you beat me a few times, I guess I'll listen to you. But don't think you'll ever beat me again."

The brunette laughed. "A duel is never a sure thing. Maybe you _will _defeat me next time, but remember. I don't plan on losing to you either."

The two walked toward Manjoume's room to sort out their decks while Judai was talking.

"Well, get use to the idea of losing," Manjoume retorted as he opened the door. Then they sat down on one of the couches and laid out their decks on a table.

xXx xXx xXx

Another attack. . . both Lisa and Edo screamed in pain, but Edo was over it quicker. Lisa fell to the ground, her bright red hair dampened with sweat. Edo watched her fall helplessly. There was nothing he could do except. . . he wasn't sure if he really wanted to try that yet.

_She looked up at him with watery, green eyes. "Edo. . ." she begged for nothing in particular._

"_Lisa, you've got to fight it," Edo yelled at her. "I can't help you unless you fight it."_

_Lisa let her tears fall. "But. . . I'm scared. . ." Suddenly she was surrounded in darkness, and unnaturally pulled to her feet, but unlike before, she screamed._

Good, _Edo thought._ She's fighting now.

_Then the redhead fell to the ground, once more in control of herself. Edo took a few seconds to decide the best ways to get Tanjiro gone for good. . . He had noticed that each time he lost life points, no matter how few they were, Lisa regained control for a few seconds. He had also developed that idea into a plan, but didn't want to execute it. Still coming up with no other option, however, he would have to carry out the only possible way he knew. . ._

"_Edo, he doesn't. . . want me to fight him. He says he'll hurt me," Lisa mumbled, terrified. Then the darkness once again surrounded her, forcing her to stand up._

_Edo had remained silent that whole time. "It's my turn," he finally said drawing a card from his duel disk._

"_Well?" Lisa's voice came to him. . . but it was clearly not Lisa. "Do you think you can finally demolish my monsters? It's taken you two turns already now. Do you give up?"_

_Edo scrutinized the card he was holding for almost a minute, but he was not really studying the card, he was trying to decide something. . . _

"_Make your move already, _Phoenix_," Lisa ordered, emphasizing Edo's name as though it was a curse._

_This was it, his time to decide. He looked back at Judai and his two friends, Kenzan and Shou, watching from the sidelines. Strangely enough, Judai had hardly said a word, just watched Edo fearfully. Of course, Judai didn't believe Edo would lose. . . but. . ._

_Judai shook his head angrily at Edo. But the Pro knew what he was about to do, and tried to ignore the fact that Judai would attempt to stop him. This was _his _duel, not Judai's. Edo knew what he had to do._

"_I told you. Make your move!" Lisa shouted angrily. _

_After Edo turned back to the duel, Judai had suddenly closed his eyes as if he didn't want to watch—_

"Edo?" he heard Lisa's normal voice. "Are you okay?"

Edo realized he was sitting on a bench next to Lisa outside Duel Academy. Lisa was holding her deck, and Edo looked down at his hands to realize he was holding his cards, as well. _Wait a second,_ he thought, _Did I just. . . space out. . .?_ That wasn't like him. . . Something was _really_ going to happen, he knew it, and it was getting closer.

"Are you okay?" Lisa repeated.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Edo said, pulling his polite mask back on. "Why do you ask?"

Lisa shrugged but looked disappointed. "You just seemed a little. . . out of it. . . That's all," she commented, unable to hide a touch of sorrow in her voice. Then she stood up and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Edo asked curiously. "What's wrong?"

"You," she answered shortly and bitterly as she stopped walking. "You're always hiding yourself. I should be asking _you_, 'What's wrong,' but, of course, you wouldn't tell me. You never tell me anything. And then you call _me_ selfish."

The howling wind began to blow the autumn leaves around in the air as Edo carefully decided his answer.

"See?" she said after a few moments had passed with Edo's silence. She still didn't turn to look back at him though. "You're always so cautious. It's okay to make mistakes sometimes."

Edo got up and started striding ahead of her, never even glancing at her. "The tag team tournament starts tomorrow," he stated coldly as he continued walking. "You'd better be ready."

xXxxXxxXx

"So, why did you want to be my partner?" a teenager asked, pushing his glasses closer to his eyes.

"Because. . . I want to get back at Edo. And his partner," a girl said. "And you're a good duelist, good enough to strategize, focus your attacks without losing."

"Ah, so what's your plan, Talitha?"

Talitha smirked. "Remember, our target will be only the girl. Don't attack Edo, that will ruin the strategy. Edo will have to waste his defense on her, and then _he_ will be wide-open to attack. But don't make it noticeable. Attack her, acting like it's the easiest way to win, not as if it's our plan. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," he assured.

"Good. The whole point of this is to get Edo as confused as possible. Then he won't be able to duel correctly," Talitha continued.

The male teen smiled cruelly as he pushed his glasses, once more. "I have one more plan for that, too."

xXx The Next Day xXx

After waking up, Edo strolled out of his boat and walked along the path to Duel Academy. He looked down at his feet, trying to decide how he would speak to Lisa after what they both said the other day.

Edo glanced up as he saw two familiar legs in front of his own to see Lisa, staring sadly at him. "Lisa?"

She remained quiet for a moment, averting his gaze. "I'm sorry. . ." she whispered as she finally met his eyes. "I wasn't thinking yesterday. I—"

"Forget it," Edo said.

"The Tag Team Tournament starts today, Edo," Lisa said a few moments later. "Everyone's gonna duel today. Who do _you_ want to duel?"

Edo was about to shrug when they heard a voice from behind them.

"Why, hello, _Lisa_," a girl said. "And you, too, Edo."

Edo and Lisa turned to look down at who had spoken and saw the blonde girl again, accompanied by another male teenager, obviously her partner.

"Not you again," Lisa mumbled.

"What was that, Lisa? Don't like me?" The blonde was sneering. "By the way, my name is Talitha."

Edo glared at both Talitha and her partner. "What do you want?"

"We want a duel," Talitha's partner spoke.

"And who might you be?" Edo asked.

The teen smirked as a sneering Taltiha glanced in his direction. "My name is. . ." he started but trailed off. "On second thought, you don't need to know what my name is. Just call me 'D.'"

"What?!" Edo asked, unable to mask his surprise. He sensed Lisa's worried eyes glance at him. "But—"

"What's the problem, Phoenix?" The one who called himself D asked. "Scared of me?"

Edo regained his composure from his original surprise. "No. If you think calling yourself a name so close to my dead guardian will scare me, think again."

"It's easy to say that now, but just wait," Talitha interrupted as D chucked. "So. Are you going to duel us or what?"

Lisa's eyes widened as Edo abruptly activated his duel disk. "Edo. . ." she said. "Do you really think this is a good idea—"

Edo ignored her as he drew five cards. "Listen, Lisa, you either duel with me, or I'll duel on my own."

"But, Edo—"

"Are you in or out?"

_I've never seen Edo like this_, Lisa thought. _He must be really angry, but why. . ._ Lisa shakily activated her duel disk and drew five cards. She couldn't just abandon Edo to a two against one duel, no matter how much she disagreed. "I'm in," the red-head told him.

Talitha and D just stood there, waiting for one of the other two to make their move.

After a moment of stillness, Edo drew a card. "I'll go first." He glanced as his cards, and put one on his duel disk. "I place a monster in defense mode, and one card face-down. That's all."

"My turn," Talitha stated. "I summon Warrior Lady of the Wasteland in attack mode. And then I also play a card face-down." The woman with a black hat and long green boots appeared on the field (4/1100/1200).

Lisa drew a card and looked at her hand. "I summon Harpie Lady 1 in attack mode." The card appeared on her field, flying with its green wings (4/1600/1400). "That's it."

D smirked and drew a card. "I play two cards face-down and end my turn."

Lisa took a moment to look at Edo, who seemed very angry at D. She wanted to say his name, wake him up from his deep focus of anger, but knew that the Pro would not listen to her. _He gets into something, and then he can't stop himself_, Lisa realized, _just like in. . . the dream_. _Why does he think he has to be a hero?_ she sadly asked no one in particular.

"My move," stated Edo, not even taking his eyes off D. "I flip my face-down monster." The Pro duelist's card was revealed to be D-Hero – Diamond Guy (4/1400/1600). "And I attack you directly, _D_," Edo continued as his monster jumped up to do its attack.

"You fell into my trap," D said, pushing his glasses. "I activate Ring of Destruction to destroy your Diamond Guy, and we all lose 1400 points."

Edo: 2700 / Talitha: 2700 / Lisa: 2700 / D: 2700

"I activate my face-down, Destiny Mirage, so I can bring back my Diamond Guy," Edo countered. "Diamond Guy! Attack Warrior Lady of the Wasteland!"

Edo: 2700 / Talitha: 2400 / Lisa: 2700 / D: 2700

"I play another two cards face-down and a monster in defense. Your turn, Talitha," Edo said.

Talitha glanced at D, smiled, and then looked at Lisa. "All right, here we go," she said, drawing a card. "I play Cry of the Living Dead to re-summon my Warrior Lady of the Wasteland. Then I equip her with Grade Sword." The sword appeared in Command Knight's hand. "Now, thanks to the rest of Grade Sword's effect, I can sacrifice my Warrior Lady, and it will count as two sacrifices. So meet my Gilford the Legend. And when he's summoned, he has access to each equip card in my graveyard. So I'll equip him with Grade Sword again." Gilford the Legend's Grade Sword appeared in his hands (8/2900/2000). "Now, Gilford, attack Lisa's Harpie Lady!"

Gilford the Legend used his sword to cut through Lisa's monster. She winced as her life points dropped.

Edo: 2700 / Talitha: 2700 / Lisa: 1400 / D: 2700

_Why are they attacking Lisa?_ Edo thought. _Why aren't they attacking me, they had a perfect opportunity. . ._

Lisa had fallen to her knees, and Edo couldn't see her face. _Just as I thought. . . she's gonna get in my way._ Edo wished that Lisa had just chosen to let him deal with this duel on his own, but now there was no choice, no backing out.

"My t-turn," Lisa stammered as she got back on her feet. "I summon H-Harpie Lady SB." The winged monster materialized on Lisa's field (4/1800/1300). "And now, D, I atta—"

"Lisa, don't," Edo interrupted quickly.

"What. . .? But—"

Edo signaled for her to be quiet and gestured towards D's facedown. Lisa saw what he meant immediately. . . D had obviously known he would have to survive two attacks without any monsters and had prepared for it.

"I end my turn," Lisa said instead.

D smiled. "Ah, I see you noticed my face-down," he said pushing his glasses. "No worries, I have other plans for you." D drew a card. "I play Red-Eyes Black Chick in attack mode." The cute, baby chick appeared (1/800/500). "And then I sacrifice it to summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" The small chick grew into an almost full-grown dragon, and roared loudly (7/2400/200). "Now your through! Red-Eyes, attack Lisa's monster, and finish her off."

Terrified, Lisa looked at Edo. "I'm sorry. . ." she said suddenly.

There it was again. . . _I'm sorry_. Edo wanted to roll his eyes, just looking at her. He knew that she was a better duelist than this. She was just distracted by something. . . _by_ me, he realized. . . He had been so angry at D, for humiliating him with his old guardian's nickname, that he had forgotten about the duel. Now he knew how to fix it.

"Hold it right there," Edo commanded. "I activate my Negate Attack, so it looks like Lisa is still in this."

Stunned, Lisa stared at the Pro. He. . . saved her from the attack. The teenage girl blushed deeply as he looked at her. "Thanks, Edo," she said, looking down with a feeling of relief. Edo didn't look nearly as angry at D as he had before. . . they'd be all right now that they could both focus.

"It's your move, Phoenix," Talitha reminded him impatiently.

Edo drew a card, and his facial features grew satisfied. "I flip my face-down monster, D-Cubic," he explained. "And now, I sacrifice my Diamond Guy, and my D-Cubic, which counts as two sacrifices, to summon D-Hero – Dogma Guy!" (8/3400/2700) "Now I equip Dogma with Cyclone Blade, so when he attacks a monster, a spell or trap card is destroyed. And I think I'll destroy D's face-down with this next attack. But that's not all. Next I play D-Chain, which increases my monster's attack points by five hundred. Now Dogma! Attack Talitha's Warrior Lady of the Wasteland!"

Edo: 2700 / Talitha: 0 / Lisa: 1400 / D: 2700

"What?!" Talitha demanded as she lost all of her life points, and D's facedown, revealed to be Magic Cylinder, was destroyed. "How is this happening?!" Talitha objected again.

Lisa half-laughed now that Edo had gotten rid of Talitha. "It's called a duel, blondie," she teased.

"You'll pay for calling me that, red-head," Talitha retorted. Then she backed away, waiting impatiently for D to finish the two off.

"It's your turn now, Lisa," Edo declared.

Lisa drew a card. "I play a monster face-down, and that's all."

D pushed his glasses for about the fourth time that day. "I sacrifice my Red Eyes Black Dragon to summon Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!" (9/3000/2000.) "Red-Eyes attack Lisa's face-down!"

The face-down monster flipped up, and revealed a marshmallow with eyes, who took the attack without being destroyed. "Guess what, D. When Marshmallon is flipped face-up, you take 1000 points of damage." (3/300/500)

Edo: 2700 / Lisa: 1400 / D: 1700

"A thousand points doesn't matter to me," D said. "Not when I'm going to win. I play one card face-down and end my turn."

"You can't win when my monster is stronger than yours," Edo commented, drawing a card. "I attack your monster with Dogma Guy!"

"You're forgetting something," D claimed, putting his fingers up to his glasses again. "I have a trap card."

"And _you're_ forgetting something," Edo countered. "My monster has Cyclone Blade equipped to it, so I can destroy your face-down." As if on cue, D's facedown was destroyed at that moment.

"Wait, what?!" D said, but that did not stop Edo's attack. D's Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon was destroyed.

"And remember, D-Chain causes you to lose five hundred points after I destroy a monster."

Edo: 2700 / Lisa: 1400 / D: 100

"And that leaves you totally defenseless," Lisa continued as she drew a card. "I switch Marshmellow into attack mode, and attack you directly!"

Edo: 2700 / Lisa: 1400 / D: 0

Talitha, who looked totally stunned, didn't even notice as D took the two medals out of her pocket and tossed them over.

"Yes!" Lisa shouted in excitement. "We won!" She was about to thank Edo for using Negate Attack to save her when she saw Edo glaring angrily at D again. "Edo. . .?" Lisa asked.

Edo stepped toward D as the teenager waited patiently to be confronted. "Why did you do it?" Edo demanded.

"Do what?"

"You know what you did. How dare you even think to nickname yourself after my father's murderer, just so you could annoy me?" Edo stayed calm despite his inner urge to annihilate the one who called himself D.

"It was my fault," Talitha suddenly stepped in. "I was mad at you, Edo. . . you partnered with that red-head—I mean, Lisa—instead of me. I wanted to get back at you. I'm sorry. . . I shouldn't have let 'D' call himself that."

Lisa, standing a few feet away, smiled at Talitha's sudden humility.

Edo turned away. "Fine. Just don't do it again."

D pushed his glasses. "Of course, not."

Edo walked over to Lisa, who had picked up their opponent's two medals. Lisa could somehow tell the Pro duelist was a little upset on the inside, but she remained silent as they both walked farther up the path. Neither cared where they were going, they just wanted to get away from Talitha and D.

After they had walked a ways, Lisa stopped and stared at Edo. "Will you be okay?" she asked, still noting that he was shaken from "D."

At first, Edo nodded, but then seemed to change his mind and shook his head. "I'll never be okay. . . I'll always miss my father."

Lisa's eyes widened. She didn't know how to react to Edo's sudden trust in telling her this. And besides that, the only thing she knew was that the name "D" was a soft spot for Edo. . . in other words, she never thought it could have something to do with his father.

"Your father is. . . dead. . .?" Lisa asked quietly, afraid to say too much and make Edo angry.

"Yeah," Edo responded as he stared at the ground.

"I wonder how Judai's doing," Lisa said in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

But Edo seemed somewhat grateful for her understanding although it was hard to tell since he slipped his mental mask back on. "Well, if he asks us to duel, we can say we already did." Edo smirked. "I don't want to duel him and Manjoume just yet."

Lisa half-laughed. "Me neither. I don't want to duel them at all."

Edo gave a small smile, and they continued heading up the trail.

xXxxXxxXx

A/N: I think there should be a duel with Manjoume and Judai in chapter 15. I hope you all liked this chapter though :-D review's are always nice, so no hesitating :-P lol, I say that a lot :-)


	15. Vulnerable

A/N: Sorry for the extremely late update, but. . . I has very little time. . . Well, of course you could say, "Why are you updating the freaking Naruto one?!" … well, that's cuz I do the Naruto one at school, and not this one. Now you're probably saying "then why can't you do this one at school?!" I have an answer to that too ;-) _that's_ cuz I promised a duel for Manjoume and Judai, and I can't have access to the names and effects of all their cards at school, and so I need to do it at home… and I have no time. So sorry.

And I have to apologize for one more thing :-( I broke a promise… I promised a duel for this Chapter, and there WILL be a duel, but … well, you'll see when you get there. I'm really sorry, but another reason why I didn't finish this chapter for so long was because I was terrified of writing the duel. . . But… anyway, it will make more sense when you get there, like I said before. :-D sorry again :-( But I hope you enjoy anyway :-D

OH wait!!! I almost forgot to add this … I thought of the WHOLE plot idea b4 I EVER started watching Naruto or reading the manga. So I'm not a copier in these next few chapters ;-) K. _Now_ enjoy ;-D

xXx xXx xXx

Chapter 15 – Vulnerable

xXx xXx xXx

"We challenge you to a—" Judai started, but was interrupted when the two boys ran away from him. Judai sighed in annoyance. "Awe, everyone's leaving before we can duel them. . . but why?"

Manjoume rolled his eyes. "'Cause we're the best duelists in the tournament. Why else?"

Judai stopped walking with Manjoume for a moment. "I wouldn't say we're the _best_. I mean, we haven't dueled everyone there is, and who's to say the ones we _have_ dueled didn't improve?"

"Whatever," Manjoume said, hardly listening. "We'll still win."

Judai impatiently sat on the ground since no other duelist was in sight. Manjoume stopped walking, but did not sit down, merely folding his arms.

"What's your problem?" Manjoume demanded, watching Judai just motionlessly sit in boredom.

"I'm waiting for someone to challenge _us_," Judai explained sheepishly.

Manjoume continued to stand over Judai, his eyes already showing boredom. "You know, we don't _have_ to duel today. We have the whole week. So let's wait till tomorrow or something."

"No!" Judai exclaimed. "Let's go find Edo and duel him!"

Manjoume was not able to stifle his groan this time. _Duel Edo already? Even Judai lost to him once. . ._

Coincidentally, Lisa happened to be walking down the path toward them at that moment. "Hi, Judai!" she called, appearing very relieved to see him.

"Hey," Judai greeted when she caught up with him and Manjoume. "So. . . where's Edo?"

Lisa shrugged, and Judai noticed how nervous she was. "I don't know. . . We already dueled someone and won, so I guess he went back to his boat or something. . ." She looked at Judai's black-haired partner. "Hi, Manjoume. . ."

Manjoume glared at Judai, who regretfully received the silent message.

"Um, sorry, Lisa, but we gotta go find someone to duel," Judai apologized. "Bye." He waved before he was forced to catch up with Manjoume, who had already started to leave. All his senses pointed to staying, but he didn't listen just that once.

"Bye. . ." Lisa replied faintly. She didn't want to be alone. Every since Edo left her, someone had been following her. . . just waiting for the perfect opportunity. . . and she knew _this_ was that moment.

"Oh, Lisa," a sing-songy voice came from behind her as soon as Judai and Manjoume were out of sight. He was. . . Tanjiro.

Lisa's sudden scream was muffled by a hand that quickly covered her mouth. Another arm restrained her from escape.

"It will do you no good to run away, Lisa," Tanjiro said as he released her completely.

Lisa ran, paying no heed to his words. But the dark blonde suddenly turned into a shadowy mist and materialized straight in front of her. The girl stumbled and fell backwards in surprise. "What do you want?" Lisa demanded after realizing Tanjiro wasn't only joking. "You've been following me all morning! Leave me _alone_!"

Tanjiro smirked. "I'll leave you alone for two days on one condition."

"Why don't I just turn you into the Principal for harassment?" Lisa countered.

"He wouldn't be able to stop me anyway," Tanjiro declared. He seemed almost as if he was toying with her.

_What did he mean by leaving me alone for only_ two _days_?_What is he planning to do after that?_ Lisa glared at Tanjiro. "What do you want then?"

"A duel," Tanjiro said simply. "You and me, right now."

_It's only a duel, what could go wrong with that?_ Lisa decided. "Fine. But first tell me something. Why me? I'm no one important, what do you want from _me_?"

Tanjiro smirked again but this time it had no emotion in it. . . as if he was only _learning_ how to smile. "Because. . . you're close to Edo. _He's_ the one I'm after."

Lisa's eyes widened. Her dream. . . "There's no way I'm going to let you hurt Edo! I'd rather die first!"

Tanjiro laughed with a lack of emotion. "He doesn't even like you, Lisa," he teased harshly. "Funny how you would protect that heartless bastard who doesn't have a single care for you."

Lisa refrained from emotionally yelling as she had last time. "Well, guess what. _I_ care. It doesn't matter what _he_ thinks because whether you duel me, here and now, is _my_ decision. And I say, 'No!'"

"Oh well. . . I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way," Tanjiro said.

Lisa took a step back, but Tanjiro grabbed her wrist, piercing her eyes with his own gaze.

"Wh-what are you doing. . .?" Lisa nervously stammered as she began to struggle desperately. His grip was inhumanely strong.

Tanjiro said nothing, turning into the black mist again and absorbing himself into her body.

The last thing Lisa heard was her own shriek. Then she was lost in her own memories of her duels.

xXx xXxxXx

"I think we should go back," Judai commented, suddenly worried. "Lisa looked nervous when we left."

"_I_ think we should find someone to duel like _you_ wanted to," Manjoume countered.

"Why do you always disagree with me?"

"Because you're so disagreeable."

Suddenly two Obelisk boys appeared in front of them, striding up to Judai and Manjoume. Both frowning, the two threw glares at the Osirises. "We challenge you, Yuki Judai, and your partner to a duel," one said as Manjoume huffed at his name being "Judai's partner."

Judai, ignorant to Manjoume's abrupt turbulence, activated his duel disk. "Finally! A duel!"

Manjoume stopped Judai from drawing cards. "And you would be. . .?" he demanded of the two Obelisks instead.

"I would be Teiji," one of them replied, and then pointed to his partner. "And this would be my younger, twin brother, Kenji."

"We heard about Judai's talent, and came to test him," Kenji added. "Prepare to lose!"

(A/N: Okay. I'm sick and tired of making mistakes on these stupid duels. . . So unless anyone believes writing the whole thing out on a pointless one, which doesn't really have anything to do with the plot, is better than making mistakes and having to go back and fix them, even after I checked and checked again, I'm skipping this duel. If you think I suck for skipping it, review, and I'll spend EXTRA time writing it, and add it in before Chapter 16, just for you. K? K.)

"Gotcha!" Judai exclaimed as he and Manjoume won. "That was fun!"

Teiji nodded. "It seems we underestimated you both," he said, glancing at Manjoume.

"Yeah," Kenji agreed. "Thanks for a great duel!"

"You're welcome," Judai responded. Manjoume simply nodded to the two Obelisks.

"Judai!" a voice called out from behind. "Please help. . ."

Judai turned to see Lisa, struggling to stand and keep walking towards him. He started running over to help.

"Judai, we need to get the medals!" Manjoume reminded.

Judai glanced back. "You get them, Manjoume, I'll be there in a sec'."

He made it to Lisa, who had simply given up walking and was lying on the ground. "Lisa, what happened?" Judai asked when she opened her eyes to look at him.

"He's taking over, Judai," she mumbled crazily. "I can't keep him out!"

Judai knelt beside her. "Who's 'him?'"

Lisa sat up, trying to explain quickly. "Tanjiro! He's taking over my body. . . I can't stop him! He's—"

"Lisa," Judai cut in, smiling to try to lighten the mood. "What are you talking about?"

The girl tried to calm her heavy breathing. "In my dream. . . Edo's had the same dream, too. . . Tanjiro's going to do something horrible with my body, once he gets it under his control!"

"Huh?" Judai responded sheepishly. "How could Tanjiro do that?"

"_He's not human_, Judai!" Lisa exclaimed.

Judai remained silent for a moment since he wasn't getting any sensible answers from her. After a moment, Lisa's face seemed to calm down, so Judai asked a simple "yes" or "no" question. "Do you think Edo could help at all 'cause he's had the same dream?"

Lisa's face transformed into pure horror at even the mention of his words. "Please don't. . ." Lisa started, her voice shaking and cracking. "Keep me away from him!" Tears sprang to her eyes. "I don't want to hurt him. . . I don't want to. . ." she mumbled repeatedly.

_Shit! That didn't help much,_ Judai thought, regretting his last question.

"Is everything okay?" Manjoume's voice came from behind them.

Judai quickly thought of a sufficient answer. "I—"

He was cut short as Lisa began screaming and clutching her heart in pain. Judai laid her gently on the ground, and Manjoume angrily plugged his ears against the piercing shrieks. Finally the redhead stopped screaming, but continued to shake fearfully.

"What's going on?" came another familiar voice, and Judai glanced up to see Edo, studying them with his hands in his pockets.

Before anyone could answer, Lisa started screaming again. "Stay away from me!" she yelled. "Judai, make him leave, _please_!"

Confused, Edo glanced at Judai, who could see the "what's wrong with her" hidden in his eyes.

Suddenly the screaming stopped, and Judai saw that Lisa had fainted. "Manjoume, you stay with her," Judai said quickly. "Please," he added after receiving an angry glare from his partner. "And, Edo, let's go get help."

Edo nodded and followed Judai toward the campus of the school. They had been half-walking and half-jogging up the path when they heard someone shout behind them.

"Judai!" the voice called. It was Manjoume.

Edo and Judai stopped to look back and saw the black-haired Obelisk racing toward them.

"She's gone."

Frowning, Edo, who had remained speechless the entire time, finally spoke up. "What do you mean 'gone?'"

Caught up with the two, Manjoume shrugged. "She got up and left. Nothing I said would stop her. It was like she couldn't even hear me. . ."

"Hey, Aniki, guess what! Me and Kenzan, we won!" Shou's voice was suddenly heard.

Judai glanced at the source of the sound to see Kenzan and Shou, running toward them.

"What's wrong?" Kenzan asked curiously, seeing the looks on the three's faces.

A silence consumed the air, and no one moved, nor dared to speak. Suddenly Edo strolled casually away.

"Where are you going?" Judai asked.

Edo didn't even take the time to look back, but he did stop to listen as if he didn't really want to leave. "Back to my boat," he answered simply.

Judai studied Edo when he still didn't move. "You really shouldn't leave. . .who knows what could happen?" he reminded as nice as he could, but still awaited the angry glare Edo would send back at him.

But the inevitable glare never came, only angry words. . . "What are you talking about?"

"Judai, you might as well tell _all_ of us what's going on," Manjoume commented.

Judai sighed and told everyone about Lisa's nightmare, and how he was almost certain it was connected to Tanjiro, and explained what he thought was happening. Then he turned back to face Edo, who still was debating whether he should actually leave or not.

"We should all stay together," he told them, more to convince Edo than anyone else. "Maybe Lisa won't be able to catch us as easily if we don't split up."

Kenzan and Shou nodded almost immediately. After a few moments, Manjoume silently agreed, too. Judai waited for Edo to agree, but the silence stretched on. . . "Edo. . .?" he urged quietly.

"Fine, I'll stay," the Pro duelist suddenly said, and turned around to face them.

Judai breathed a slight sigh of relief. As long as Edo stayed with them, Lisa—or rather _Tanjiro_—would have a harder time cornering him to duel him.

"Let's head back to the Osiris Dorm," Kenzan suggested. "We can hang out in Judai's room."

Manjoume and Shou followed Kenzan on the path to their new destination. Edo was next to follow, and Judai stayed behind everyone. It was getting dark, and he wanted to keep an eye on the Pro duelist.

Lisa's last warning to Judai was to keep Edo away from her. . . even though he knew Edo wouldn't be in danger in a duel—his nearly undefeated record proved that—Judai still wanted to be cautious.

Finding himself staring at the back of Edo's head as the group walked down the path, Judai realized exactly why he was so worried. . .

Edo's desire was to be a true hero.

Edo was willing to give up his life to be that true hero.

Edo. . . was vulnerable.

xXx xXx xXx

A/N: There. Now you're all gonna kill me for skipping the duel. Sorry again :-( I feel really, really depressed at the moment if you haven't noticed, so I also apologize for the "short-tempered" author's notes… but if you want to, flame, just know it'll be on your conscious that you worsened my depression :-P LOL, I'm jk… I've never minded flames unless it was from some stupid person who didn't know anything… harsh criticism is also appreciated :-D so don't be afraid to review in any way you like :-) I even replied to thank a flamer once, so… yeah… sorry, I'm rambling on again. BTW, thanks for reviews, everyone!!!

I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, especially cuz there might not be a duel next chapter (and if there is, I'll HAVE to write it cuz it IS important to the plot :-P LOL. And I've memorized all Edo's cards anyway, so I wouldn't need to have access to the internet) so I can do it at school :-P YAY!!

One last thing (this must be my longest author's note ever. Sorry). I don't know if I've said this b4, but please excuse my bad grammar on A/N's… I mean, it's just an author's note, what matters is the story ;-) so yeah… a flame on my A/Ns could be annoying :-P LOL. Anyway, see ya later :-D


	16. Stakes of a Duel

**A/N: It's been 2 months!! -gasps in shock- SORRY:( I haven't written anything since Christmas… sorry! Anyway, this chapter will be sorta the climax of Part 1 of this story, so I hope you enjoy it… if you can ignore the awful characterizations and mistakes and stuff :( I hope it's not too bad… but anyway, thanks for all my faithful readers!! Otherwise, this chapter would not be here at all… Thanks again:)**

**Enjoy!!**

* * *

Chapter 16 – Stakes of the Duel

"Anybody want to duel?" Judai tried for the umpteenth time to lighten the mood.

Manjoume sighed. "There's a tournament going on! We can't really duel just for fun anymore. . ."

"Why not?" Shou asked curiously. "I mean, if that was a rule, then wouldn't Judai have taken your medals when he rescued you from the Society of Light last year?"

"Oh, shut up, you little pipsqueak," Manjoume yelled about to jump on Shou and attack.

"Leave my partner alone," warned Kenzan.

"What are we all doing here anyway?" Manjoume wondered aloud before glaring at Edo, who had remained silent the whole time.

Judai smiled cheerfully. "'Cause it's like we're having a sleepover. Sleepovers are fun, Manjoume!"

Kenzan glanced at Judai curiously. "Wait. . . since when were we having a sleepover. . . ?"

"Since_now_, I guess," Shou answered. He yawned. "I'm so sleepy."

Manjoume rolled his eyes. "Then go to bed already, and stop annoying us."

"But he's not annoying us," Judai protested, still smiling. "Right, Edo?" He glanced at the Pro duelist and expected a glare or a sharp retort, but Edo's eyebrows were furrowed in concentration.

Lost in thought, Edo merely nodded, not even glancing at Judai.

* * *

_What the hell is happening?_ Lisa asked herself, but still couldn't control her own body. _I don't understand. . ._

She couldn't stop herself from walking deep into the forest and to the well, which used to contain abandoned cards. Judai had explained to her that during his first year, Manjoume had made a deck out of all the weak monsters. So now the well was simply a well, instead of a spirit-filled cavern.

Unable to gain control over her body, Lisa climbed down into the well, and immediately noticed a tall man with a hood, hiding most of his face in the shadows.

"Well done, Tanjiro," said the man, his icy voice echoing against the walls of the well.

_Tanjiro? I'm not. . . Wait! Does that mean. . . _Lisa managed to scream as loud as she could before, once again, she lost control of her body. _Edo. . ._

"Hmm, it looks like she still has partial control over this body. . ." said an unknown voice, coming from her own mouth. "Lucky for her. . . she'd be dead, otherwise."

The other man smirked. "Lucky. . . But anyway, what about Edo? Are you ready to duel him?"

"Yes." Lisa couldn't stop her own mouth from moving. "Except there's a slight problem. . . Yuki Judai is with him, and so are most of his friends. . ."

"I don't care. Just as long as you duel Edo. Judai and Shou can't discover my identity either. Or even that I still exist." The man suddenly removed his hood.

Shock hit her mind sharply when she realized that she knew this man. . . Everything fell into place. Why Judai _and_Shou couldn't know about him, why he was after Edo, and what was about to happen.

The only problem was. . . she couldn't warn Edo. . . or Judai, for that matter. At least, not until it was too late. . .

* * *

"Judai," Edo suddenly broke the never-ending silence.

_I guess he's made up his mind on whatever he was thinking about,_ Judai realized. "Yeah?"

"I'm leaving."

Kenzan and Shou jumped up instantly. "No, you can't leave!" said Shou.

"Remember what Judai told us?" Kenzan added.

"Yeah, I remember. I actually had the same dream," said Edo, irritated. "So what? It's not like knowing what will happen is gonna change what I'm going to do about it."

Judai understood perfectly. . . it fit in with what had worried him this whole time. But still, he couldn't just let Edo deal with it alone. "Hey, Edo," Judai said, putting a hand through his hair. "Will you at least let us come with you, just in case something happens? So we can be there? Please?"

Edo sighed. "Fine. . . but you know you can't stop me from what I'll do."

Smiling sadly, Judai nodded. "Yeah, I know." He turned to Manjoume. "You coming?"

Manjoume shrugged. "Sure. It might actually be exciting."

The five teenagers left Judai's room in the Osiris Dorm, and quickly headed to the most likely spot where any evil could be—the forest on the island. Shou, of course, was afraid of the dark, so he clung to Judai's arm the entire way. Not that Judai minded. . . he thought it was a little cute.

Finally at the edge of the forest, Edo glanced back. "You know, you don't have to come if you don't want to. . . It _could_be dangerous. I can handle it on my own."

Judai shook his head cheerfully. "Nah, I'm used to handling bad guys. . . I do every year at this school. So I'll stick with you on this one."

"Any_real_ friend of Judai's would stay, too," Kenzan said. "So I'm staying."

Detecting an obvious challenger from Kenzan, Shou instantly agreed. "Yep, I'm staying too."

"I can't be the only one not to agree, so I'll stick around too," Manjoume added.

Edo nodded, a smile threatening to stretch over his lips, but, of course, stoically the Pro duelist never truly smiled. "Thanks, guys," he said neutrally.

The five hesitantly hiked deeper into the forest when suddenly Judai's Hane Kuriboh appeared in front of his eyes.

"Hey, Kuriboh," Judai greeted quietly.

The duel monster made a happy sound in response, and then became more serious, telling him what was happening.

Judai nodded in understanding before noticing everyone's eyes were on him.

"Well?" asked Manjoume. "What'd your spirit say?"

"They're by the well… the one we went to at our first year, Manjoume," Judai explained quickly.

"_They_?" Edo asked.

Judai nodded. "It seems Lisa's not there alone. There's someone else. . . Hane Kuriboh didn't know who though. . ."

Kuriboh, once again, appeared in front of Judai in order to tell him more.

"Lisa's getting closer to us," Judai added. "The other guy left."

Edo frowned in irritation. "So there's somebody behind all of this, somebody after me. . ."

"Wrong," came a voice from behind them.

All teenagers turned to see Lisa, standing there with her duel disk and her deck. But Judai knew she wasn't really Lisa.

"What do you mean 'wrong?'" Edo demanded. "It's quite obvious you're after me, _Tanjiro_."

Lisa smiled. "Ah, so you know who I am, do you? How intuitive of you. But back on subject, you're wrong about him being after you. He's really after you _and_ Judai. But he's saving Judai for last."

"Huh?" said a surprised Judai. "Me, _too_?"

Edo activated his duel disk. "So you're saying he's saving Judai for last because he'll be the greatest challenge, huh? Well, that's only if you can get through me first!"

"That's what _you_ think," Lisa commented, smirking. "But I don't think you quite know the rules of this game."

"Another shadow game?" Judai guessed.

She shook her head. "Not exactly. Let me explain." The girl paused. "You see, it is a shadow game in the sense that you'll basically die if you lose. . . and you'll be truly hurt each time your life points take damage. But. . . I have a slight advantage."

"Yeah? And what would that be?" challenged Edo.

"I'm glad you asked. If you've thought this through, you'd have realized that Lisa's soul is still inside of me. Killing me would be sending her to the grave. And I know how much of a 'hero' you are, Edo. . ."

Edo frowned angrily. "And if I choose not to duel?"

Lisa shrugged. "I think the answer's obvious enough. I'm not really a living being, you know. I could, so to speak, fatally wound Lisa's body, and receive no harm for myself."

"Is that all yet?" Edo remained impassive in the darkness of the night.

The girl shook her head. "No, actually. There's one more thing. The situation in which _you_lose. . ._hypothetically_, of course."

"Yeah?"

"I'd take over your soul. You wouldn't pass on. You'd instead go to the Shadow world, to a place _I_control." Lisa drew five cards. "So? You still want to go through with this?"

Judai shook his head, and raced toward the space between Lisa and Edo. "Please don't do this, Edo," he pleaded. "Let me duel for you—"

"_No!_" Edo shouted. Then he took a slow breath to regain his composure. "Thanks for your offer, Judai, but. . . I really need to do this myself. . ."

Judai didn't move. "But why?"

"Let me do this by _myself_, at least _this_ time," Edo repeated, only hoping that Judai would back off. "You wouldn't understand. . ."

Judai still didn't agree, but stepped away anyway. Once Edo made up his mind, he was too stubborn to change. _I hope he knows what he's doing_, Judai hoped. _But. . . still. . . I don't understand why he doesn't want help. . . He seemed so angry when I offered to duel in his place. . . Why?_

"You understand the rules of this duel, Edo?" Lisa repeated. "You know all the stakes?"

Edo nodded. "Yeah. . ."

"Good!" Lisa drew another card. "Then let us begin!"

* * *

**A/N: hehe, I promised you a duel this chapter. . . I'm such a little liar. . . Sorry. . . It's obvious there'll be a duel next chapter, for sure though. . . I can't lie this time, or the story would be crap (even though it already is….). Well, cya later:) thanks for reading:D**


	17. Decision

**A/N****: For some reason, I thought it was still February . . . so sorry for putting "2/8 and 2/9" instead of "3/8 and 3/9" ****:-( lol. Anyway, I actually planned out the entire duel before I typed it!! And I must say, it worked quite well. :-) Please tell me if I made any mistakes in it. And enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 16 – Decision

Edo drew a card and debated his options. There wasn't much choice in the matter . . . He was in a trap with no possible way out—yet. Maybe if he stalled, he could find a way out, and he had just the right card to help.

"I set a monster card facedown," Edo stated. His Destiny Hero – Defend Guy would give him a little more time, even if only for a while. "And that's all."

"Stalling for time won't help, Phoenix," Lisa ridiculed as she drew a card. "I'll get through your defenses soon enough. I summon Harpy Lady SB in attack mode, and I attack your facedown card!"

Edo sighed. So she had decided to take the bait and attack. "My facedown is Destiny Hero – Defend Guy, so you lose nine hundred life points."

Edo: 4000 / Lisa: 3100 

Although she lost points, Lisa did not scream. Or at least, not on the outside. Edo was positive that her soul inside was hurt, the same as in all shadow games.

From the sidelines, Shou cheered excitedly. "Yes! Edo still has all four thousand life points! Lisa took the first blow!"

Manjoume shook his head. "That's no reason to cheer."

"What do you mean?" Kenzan asked curiously. "Shou's right! Lisa did take the first hit to her life points."

"Ugh, I'm sick of explaining things to everyone. Someone else do it," the raven-haired duelist complained.

Judai stifled a sigh. He understood all too well. "Edo didn't purposefully put the card facedown to hit Lisa's life points. He played it for more time."

"You mean, he's not really playing to win?" Shou asked, finally catching on. "He's only trying to figure out how to get out of the duel?"

"Makes sense," Kenzan agreed.

Judai nodded. They'd all seen several of Edo's first turns in other duels. The prodigy usually had a _much_ better start.

Edo drew a card. "I place two cards facedown . . .and my turn's done again."

Lisa sighed. "You're making this duel so boring Edo. At least, _try_ to attack me . . . or maybe you'll lose hope after I play this card: Lightning Vortex. Since your Defend Guy is face-up, he goes to the graveyard, opening you up for a direct attack—"

"Not yet because I play my facedown, Destiny Mirage!" Edo interrupted. "You sent Defend Guy to the graveyard with a card effect, so now with this card, I can bring him back. Arise Defend Guy in defense mode."

"Funny . . . You still bring your defense back, even when you know what you must do to be a true hero. Putting off your death with that lame card, eh, Edo?"

"She's right," Manjoume commented. "If Edo doesn't play something better than that defense monster soon, he's toast."

"But if Edo _does_ try to win, Lisa's toast, too," Shou reminded.

"I play Harpie Lady 1 in attack mode," Lisa continued. "Since she's on the field, all of my wind monsters gain three hundred points! And to finish my turn, I think I'll put one card facedown. Your move, Edo."

Edo drew a card. Still, he could find no other option to escape the well laid-out trap. And he knew that he would have to make a decision very soon. "I summon Destiny Hero – Diamond Guy in attack mode, and then I'll activate D – Chain, which gives my Diamond Guy an extra five hundred points." He flipped his facedown over, and equipped it to Diamond Guy. "I'll attack Harpie Lady 1!"

"Hold on a second! I activate my facedown, Negate Attack! Your battle phase is over!" Lisa countered triumphantly.

Judai attempted to remain composed. Edo wasn't trying his best because he didn't desire to send Lisa to the Shadow Realm. Even if it was anyone else in Lisa's position (unless the person was evil to begin with), Edo would do the exact same thing. Judai knew he couldn't stop him, no matter how much he needed to put an end to the duel.

"This is _such_ a trap," the brunette stated suddenly, ignoring startled from his friends.

"I end my turn," Edo said.

Lisa shrugged. "Boring as ever, of course. Not that I'm complaining because now I can sacrifice Harpie Lady 1 and Cyber Harpie Lady in order to summon Simorgh, Bird of Divinity!" The wind-attribute monster appeared on the field, the omen of closure along with it. "I attack your Diamond Guy!"

Edo: 3200 / Lisa: 3100 

Edo held his arm up, blocking his face from the blow. The first depletion of his life points had arrived—no more stalling. He heard a high-pitched scream against the pain of his lost points. When he realized it wasn't his own, he glanced at Lisa.

Appearing in just as much pain as he was, Lisa had fallen to her knees. Her hands clutched her own hair as though she had a throbbing headache.

Edo realized that the _real_ Lisa was back, if only for a moment.

"Edo . . ." she gasped almost too quietly. "I can't stop. . . I can't . . . Tanjiro—he's forcing me to duel you with my own cards, my own strategy—"

"I know," Edo cut her off. "You have to fight him back. Do you want your body back, or not, Lisa? Fight him!"

She shook her head, wincing as she struggled to keep control. "I can't, Edo! I'm trying with everything I have! _Everything_! He's too strong!"

"Keep trying then!" Edo exclaimed. He wished he could help in some other way, but he knew he couldn't. The only way to succeed was with the duel. . . somehow . . .

"Edo, stop dueling me!" she shouted as if she had read his mind. "Let him kill me; I don't care! Just _please_, stop trying to save me!" Her final words were swept away when Tanjiro regained control of her body again. "Enough! Let's continue the duel."

What had allowed Lisa to come out again? What was the last thing that had happened in the duel? Simorgh had attacked his life points . . . What was it about Simorgh, Bird of Divinity, which had given Lisa the strength to regain control?

"I play one card face down," Lisa interrupted his thoughts, "so I am immune to Simorgh's effect. Now my turn is over. And since you have no facedowns, you lose one thousand points."

Edo: 2200 / Lisa: 3100

Again, the pain of a shadow game hit him. And again, he heard Lisa's scream. But Tanjiro seemed to be prepared this time, and regained control in a split second.

There it was again—something about Simorgh was triggering a weakness in Tanjiro. But what the hell did _Simorgh_ have to do with it!?

"Edo!" Judai suddenly shouted from the sidelines. "I know what it is!"

Annoyed, Edo glanced at his friend. Did Judai know the answer to his previous questions? "You mean, you figured out what Simorgh had to do with Lisa reappearing?"

Judai laughed, nearly without humor. "No, Edo, it's not Simorgh! It's you!" he explained.

"What do you mean?" Edo demanded.

"It's every time _you_ lose life points. Tanjiro loses control because Lisa doesn't want to hurt you!"

Oh. The answer had been simple, staring him straight in the face. And, of course, Judai was always the one to come through in situations such as this.

Angrily he found himself still staring at Judai's face. He had finally discovered the feeling he always had when he looked at the brunette. It wasn't anger or sorrow, but jealousy. He_envied_ Judai for always being the better hero than he was.

A hint of regret began to show on Judai's features as though he were recounting some horrible mistake. And Edo knew what the mistake was. Judai had accidentally told him the key to saving Lisa. If he chose to loose all of his life points by surrendering, then Lisa would be set free for good. That would finally give him a chance to be the hero for once.

And Judai understood this, just as Edo knew that Judai understood this.

Edo watched as the brunette shook his head hopefully. The Pro knew the words that Judai would've said if he had spoken aloud. _Don't do this_, Judai's eyes pleaded. _Let me handle it._

Instead of helping, Judai had only succeeded in making Edo even angrier. Finally a chance to become a true hero, and Judai wanted to steal it away from him—_again_!

"Make your move already, Phoenix!" Lisa suddenly yelled, growing impatient.

Edo drew a card and stared at it for the longest time. Did he really want to be the hero? No matter how much Edo hated it, Judai _had_ just offered him an easy way out . . .

"Edo! I said _hurry_ up, and play a card!" Lisa exclaimed again.

Edo sighed. No easy way out this time. He glanced back at Judai one final time. The Osiris duelist had closed his eyes, not wanting to watch.

But Judai would _hear_ his move just fine.

"I switch Destiny Hero – Defend Guy into attack mode." His father's card switched obediently into offense.

"Attack mode?" Lisa repeated, smirking. "Have you lost your mind, Edo? Your card only has a hundred attack . . . Or are you just giving up?"

"I end my turn," he finished bitterly, ignoring her questions.

It all went very quick then. Simorgh's effect . . . Lisa's scream when she regained control for less than a second. And then Tanjiro drawing a card.

He expected the painful slow motion, yet received no such luck. Before he knew what had hit him, Simorgh had attacked Defend Guy, bringing him down with it.

Edo: 0 / Lisa: 3100

The next noises he heard were Judai and his friends' quick footsteps toward him as he collapsed to the ground. And then Lisa's final scream as she was set free.

A quick moment of silence passed as his conscious mind began to drift. He remembered his dream from a while ago . . . The duel had not gone _exactly_ the same way as predicted. Maybe the outcome would change, too.

Suddenly he heard Lisa speak, an echo, so far away from his distant mind. "Did _I _do this?" she wondered aloud.

Good. She didn't remember what had happened. She wouldn't feel _too_ much remorse for what wasn't her fault.

* * *

**A/N****: After the next chapter, part 2 will begin ;-) I hope you enjoyed. The climax of part 1 is over.**


	18. Gone

**A/N****: Thanks to those of you who reviewed ****:-) It really means a lot to me. Wow… I haven't updated two weekends in a row in forever… Lol. I hope you enjoy… I wrote this kinda fast, so there are probably **_**lots**_** of mistakes… Sorry. And also, I apologize for the wrong chapter #'s the last few chapters... I must've been out of it or something. Anyway, Enjoy :-D**

Darkness Within  
By SpacePirateGirl**  
**

Chapter 18 – Gone

Lisa opened her eyes to discover that she was laid out on the ground and felt a duel disk on her arm. Confused and disoriented, she struggled to remember what had last happened.

But when the memories returned, she wished they hadn't. Edo and she beating their first opponents, the feeling that she was being followed, and then Tanjiro, taking her body. But that was during the day. Why was it dark now?

Unless . . .

She sat up immediately and glanced to where she knew Edo would be. But instead, she saw Judai and a few of his friends kneeling around . . . something. In order for a better view, Lisa stood and forced her legs to stay still.

They were kneeling around Edo.

"Did . . . _I _do this . . . ?" she asked, shock evident in her voice.

No one answered.

She moved forward, closer to Edo. His eyes were closed, and his features portrayed a very peaceful appearance. "E-Edo . . . ?" she mumbled, dazed.

No answer. Why was he unconscious; why wouldn't he wake up?

"_Edo!_" Lisa screeched loudly, falling to her knees.

Feeling a hand place itself on her shoulder, she glanced to her side, only to find Judai, who also appeared extremely upset.

Manjoume, the only one able to keep his calm, began to take charge. "Shou, go get the Principal."

Shou nodded, finding no reason to argue, and began running toward Duel Academia.

"Kenzan, pick up Edo. We should start following Shou. It will waste time to get to get to the campus if we wait here any longer" Manjoume continued. "And take off your duel disk, Lisa; that won't look good when Principal Samejima gets here."

As Kenzan did as he was told, Lisa shook her head, biting her lip. "I can't . . . It was my fault . . . Everything was _all_ my fault!"

"Judai, take off her duel disk," Manjoume suggested.

"No!" Lisa protested when Judai began to take her deck and then duel disk from her arm.

"Lisa, it wasn't your fault," explained Judai, who stood up to hide it in the bushes while he put her cards in his pocket.

She followed angrily so that she could regain her duel disk, but Manjoume grabbed her arms and stopped her.

"I don't care if it wasn't my fault! I _want_ to take the blame!" Her struggles did no good against the black-haired duelist, holding her, especially when she was half-blinded by tears. After a few seconds, she just gave up, and Manjoume released her.

"All right," Manjoume said. "Let's head to Duel Academia."

Following Kenzan as he started to leave as well, Judai nodded, and took Lisa's hand. They both walked up the trail, time stretching on and on. The silence was not helping.

"The clues were all there," Judai suddenly stated when Manjoume and Kenzan were too far ahead to hear. "You told us exactly what was happening every second, and you even asked me to keep _him_ from saving you. I just couldn't stop . . . Edo . . . from what he wanted to do."

Lisa shook her head. "But . . . I should've asked you to stay when Tanjiro was following me . . . It would have saved Edo!"

Judai said nothing, but the lapse in argument didn't help as much as she thought it would. Lisa could only feel guiltier.

"Sorry for all of this," she mumbled.

"Not now, Lisa," Judai finally responded. "We don't have time."

Right. They had to concentrate on the moment—would Edo be all right? Probably not, and she winced at the thought . . . but if they thought quickly, maybe he would.

xXxxXxxXx

When Shou had finally succeeded in bringing Principal Samejima, Edo was immediately brought to the medical section of the school.

Judai and the rest of them had waited silently and patiently while Chronos interrogated them.

Manjoume answered most of the questions alone. Judai knew the rest were numb with shock from the night's events, and he was ever thankful to Manjoume for his stable and apathetic personality.

"So, let me see if I've got this straight," Chronos concluded. "After Tanjiro had been missing for a while, he suddenly came back, just tonight, to duel Edo in a shadow game."

"That's right," Manjoume agreed.

"And then Edo, world-wide Pro duelist, lost? How on earth could something like that happen—"

"He didn't lose," Judai cut in suddenly, already sensing Chronos's disbelief. "He surrendered."

Their vice-principal was utterly shocked. "_Surrendered_?!"

"Duel Academia was at stake," Manjoume lied, covering up Judai's error, "so he surrendered to save everyone at the school."

Judai struggled to prevent an oncoming sigh. Lie after lie . . . How long could they keep the story plausible?

Fortunately Chronos appeared trustful of their false words, and chose to leave and relate the story to Principal Samejima.

The air visibly released tension, allowing Judai and his friends to finally relax again. But soon, the door, to where Edo lay, was opened, and everyone tensed again.

"It's no good," the nurse explained, a terribly upset expression on her face.

Judai felt Lisa's hand suddenly grasp his.

"I can't get him to wake up because he's in some sort of coma," the nurse continued. "I knew it from the moment those shadow duels came to this school—some one was going to get hurt in the end."

Lisa bit her lip. "You mean . . . he's gone?"

The nurse said nothing. But her eyes held the truth . . . Edo wasn't going to wake up. His soul had been imprisoned in the shadow realm, and Judai could think of no good idea to return it to the prodigy's body.

xXxxXxxXx

The next few days had been hell—figuratively. School continued as Principal Samejima tried to cover up the disappearance of Edo Phoenix. But reporters eventually obtained the information of a shadow duel occurring and Edo surrendering. Judai wouldn't be surprised if it were only a matter of days before the reporters discovered Edo's coma.

The only reason Judai still attended class those days was because there was really nothing else to do, and the homework gave him distractions. He hated remembering exactly what he could've done differently in order to have saved Edo's soul.

And however bad the brunette was, Lisa appeared ten times worse. Although she could not remember one single detail, she knew very well what she had done from segments of her dream and what Judai had told her. She rarely came to class, and, when she did, she never spoke unless asked a question directly.

One day, Judai decided that enough was enough, and brought Shou and Kenzan over to the Obelisk Blue dorm. Everyone had to stick together if they were going to get through this. After finding Lisa's room and knocking, she let them in quickly, without a word, and resumed her spot of watching the pouring rain hit the window.

Since the silence was become overwhelming, Judai flipped on the television, a luxury that the Osiris dorm did not have.

Some type of horror movie was on, and Judai didn't think it was all that bad—until halfway through, a news report interrupted.

"After many more interviews with the students at Duel Academia," a reporter announced, "we have discovered more of Edo's current state of a coma—"

Judai flipped the television off when he sensed the whole room tense. So they had discovered the last secret . . .

"Judai . . . ?" Lisa mumbled.

The brunette glanced at her immediately. She hadn't spoken of her own free will in days. "Yes?" he replied, half expecting her to change her mind.

But she didn't. Whatever she wanted, Lisa must have desired it really badly. "Can I talk to you . . . alone . . . for a second?"

Judai glanced at Shou and Kenzan, and they easily nodded, already absorbed in a duel against each other.

Lisa led him outside of the room and stared at the ground.

"So? What's up?" Judai urged.

"Do you think that . . ." She frowned at her feet. "Do you think they'll let us see him?"

Judai ran a hand through his hair. He was _not_ expecting this. "Uh, I don't know . . . We can go ask though."

Lisa glanced at him hopefully. "I don't want to go alone . . ."

He nodded in understanding, and opened the door to her room again. "Shou? Kenzan?" he said, attempting to get their attention. "We'll be back in a few minutes, 'kay?"

"Okay, see you," Kenzan said, still staring at his cards.

The two of them began strolling down the hallway toward the school campus. Luckily the Obelisk dorm was closer than the Osiris dorm, so they got to Duel Academia in no time. After reaching the medical section, Judai found Ayukawa.

"Can we see Edo?" he asked bluntly, gesturing at himself and Lisa.

She took their appearances in quickly and nodded. "Of course." After leading them to Edo's room, she turned around to face them. "Do you both want to see him at once, or . . . ?"

Judai glanced at Lisa for her opinion.

"Um . . . separately, please?" she asked weakly.

"You can go first, Lisa," Judai suggested, smiling.

The nurse hesitated before stepping out of the way. "Are you sure you want to see him like this?" she asked carefully.

Lisa nodded without reluctance, stepped through the door, and shut it behind her.

After waiting a few moments of silence, a piercing scream came from inside the room.

"Poor thing . . . Maybe I shouldn't have let her see him," Ayukawa commented.

Judai shook his head. "No. She wouldn't scream." He opened the door, and felt a gust of wind before noticing the window in the corner was open. He glanced at Lisa, who was kneeling beside the bed, sobbing on the sheets.

The bed was empty—Judai finally realized. Edo was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?" Ayukawa demanded from behind him.

Lisa shook her head. "I don't know . . ."

**A/N****: Part 2 starts next chapter… Gee, I'm not in a particular talkative mood today ****:-( Oh well, it makes shorter author's notes :-P Feel free to say anything you want in reviews :-D**


	19. No Time

**A/N****: Hey, thanks for review(s)!! (LOl, I can't remember if there were more than one this time . . . hehe.) I hope you like this chapter. And in this one, there should be a major hint on who the bad-guy is . . . BUT I'm still not saying anything on who it is, even if you think you know for sure. I want to keep you second-guessing :-P Enjoy :-D**

Darkness Within  
By SpacePirateGirl

_No Time_

As the nurse asked a few questions, Judai noticed that Lisa was holding something tightly in her hand away from the nurse's eyes. She obviously was trying to hide it, afraid of more interrogation.

"So you've never been in his room before today?" Ayukawa asked pointedly.

Judai, already answering most of the questions, shook his head.

"You?" the nurse questioned Lisa.

"Never until right now," she answered, her voice shaky.

Ayukawa nodded, though she hardly looked as though she believed it. "Do you know of anyone else who might have come here?"

"No one except the one who dueled Edo in the first place." Judai's polite pretense suddenly began to vanish. It was obvious Ayukawa suspected them for no good reason.

"You didn't see anything besides an empty bed when you came in here today, Lisa?"

Lisa shook her head, averting the nurse's eyes.

"You're sure—"

"She's positive," Judai interrupted. "We had nothing to do this."

"Okay then. I'll relay your information to Principal Samejima." Right after the nurse led them out of the hall and left, Lisa turned to him immediately.

"Judai, this was left on the bed," Lisa told him, giving him a small folded paper, wrinkly from being clasped in her hand.

He took it from her and opened it to read.

_Don't try to find me. I will come looking for __you__ instead. All I wanted to say, Judai, is that you're next._

"I'm going to search for him," Lisa explained. "If he wrote this note, then he must've woken up from the coma. And I think Tanjiro is controlling his body, just like he did to mine."

Judai shook his head. "What does that have to do with you searching him?"

"I caused all of this," Lisa explained as she bit her lip nervously. "I'm going to fix it." She ran away too quickly for Judai to protest and soon had disappeared from his view.

Sheepishly running a hand through his hair, Judai sighed in defeat. He knew there was someone major behind all of the recent occurrences, and, if he could find that person, he could save Edo.

Maybe Asuka would be able to help. She was one of Chronos's best students when he came here two years ago—and the most logical.

After a split second thought, Judai began strolling toward the Obelisk Girl Dorm and hoped Asuka would have a clue to help them proceed.

XXXxxxXXX

Lisa was beginning to remember segments of what had happened that awful night. Every single day, she saw familiar objects that triggered her lost memories. This time, she vaguely recalled a dark place, where Tanjiro had controlled her body—almost as if it were underground.

Using simple logic, she had concluded that it was the well, formerly full of weak monster spirits until Manjoume had added them to his deck. Judai had told her about it before, and she could only hope that they still hid there, counting on her lost memory to not be caught.

Maybe Edo's enemy also figured that nobody would consider him dumb enough to still hide in the well since he had been caught there before. And so the enemy may still be using that tactic to conceal his whereabouts. Maybe . . .

Whether it was right or not, It was still a huge clue in Lisa's favor, so there was no reason not to check things out over there.

When she finally reached her destination, Lisa proceeded cautiously, barely peeking over the edge of the stone well. And her hunch turned out to be correct. Two figures stood there, one was Tanjiro, and the other was a tall, hooded man. Obviously that man kept his identity concealed, even when no enemies were there to see him.

"I've done what you have commanded," said Tanjiro neutrally. "Everything."

"Yes," the hooded figure agreed, "you have."

"Well? My part of the bargain then? I need to return to the Shadow Realm," Tanjiro reminded. He was viciously glaring now, hardly able to wait.

Emerald eyes studied him closely. "Very well. Your sister is waiting." He brought out his duel disk and activated it.

Tanjiro did the same with his own disk. He was ready, more than ready. "I'll go first," he said, drawing six cards. He didn't even have to look at them to know his simple turn. "I pass."

A smirk appeared on the other man's face. "I draw." He paused to merely glance at the cards. "I activate the spell future fusion, and send all of my machine cards to the graveyard. Now I use Overload Fusion in order to summon Chimeratech Overdragon."

The monstrous dragon appeared on the field, relentlessly roaring, and tail waving.

"Now, Chimeratech Overdragon! Attack!"

Lisa watched as the dragon lifted its head to wipe out Tanjiro's life poitns, and she knew she had found out all there was to discover. Tanjiro would return to the Shadow realm, and no longer be a problem. And the other one with the black cloak played dragon cards . . .

She knew there was only two people who were renowned for playing dragon cards in the Pro league. But . . . she couldn't believe either of them could have done this!

Suddenly the hooded figure glanced up. His face was drawn into a glare, and Lisa knew he had seen her. So she ran away before anything else happened.

XXXxxxXXX

"One last thing," Tanjiro added as his life points dropped to zero. "Edo is unstable, so I wouldn't only rely on him if I were you. I've only awakened him to his own darkness. He still makes his own choices."

The other man's smirk disappeared, and his green eyes glared.

Tanjiro didn't mind. He had already begun returning to the Shadow Realm, waiting for the last moment possible to tell his master that news. When he was gone, he left not even a body but simply became the dark mist, he had always been—he had never belonged in that world anyway.

His sister appeared, waiting for him—as she always had when they were younger. Her long, blonde hair whipped across her fair face.

"You came," she said softly, overjoyed. She had always needed him for protection because she was the younger of the two.

"Of course, Haraku."

Tanjiro embraced his little sister in a firm hug.

XXXxxxXXX

Judai stood at Asuka's door, waiting for her to answer. Maybe she simply was not home, and after a few minutes Judai began strolling away. But soon he nearly ran into her in the hall.

"Hey, Judai, what brings you here?" she greeted.

Judai grinned. "To see you actually," he answered before glancing around. "Can we talk about this somewhere more private?"

"Sure." Asuka began leading him toward her dorm room.

Once the two were inside, Judai began describing what had happened since he had last seen her, and if she had any ideas or theories on who the bad-guy was this time.

"You think he was after you _and_ Edo?" she asked suddenly.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, he was."

Asuka smiled. "Well, that narrows it down quite a bit. There's several people who dislike Edo, but very few who have a grudge against Edo _and _you."

Judai's grin faded. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean, Asuka? That Edo's better than me?"

She laughed. "Hardly, Judai. Just that you and Edo haven't fought a lot of the same people."

"Oh, okay." Judai's face lightened up again, and he waited as Asuka thought for a moment.

"Hmm, let's see . . . There's barely any unsuccessful Professionals that you've both defeated, and the ones that you have were pretty much happy with you beating them . . . so . . . That narrows it down even further."

Judai nodded, understanding. "Okay, so we're getting somewhere, right?"

"Yeah, but I think I'll have to know more about who Edo's dueled. I'm sure there's a record that I can find somewhere—he's famous, after all. And I know who you've dueled already." Asuka stood up and grabbed her bag. "It'll take time though. I'll have to go search in the library."

"How long?" Judai asked nervously. Time was something that was running short.

"Just a day or two, Judai," Asuka explained. "I'll get back to you as soon as I can, 'kay?"

"All right," Judai said as they both exited her room. "Thanks, Asuka, you're the best."

Asuka smiled brightly and then walked off, presumably toward the library. And Judai watched her go. After she had discovered which Pro duelists there were to suspect, he could look through their profiles with her. And then maybe they'd come to a conclusion on who the major person against Edo was.

Hopefully time would be on their side. Because something in the air told him, that Edo did not have much time.

**A/N****: That's that. Sorry it wasn't very long, but . . . oh well :-D I hope you all enjoyed!! And I just had to add the part where Tanjiro returned to the Shadow Realm . . . Not that it was very significant, but it showed he wasn't all evil, you know? Just trying to get back to his sister. I might add a little more on him later. :-)**

**See you all whenever I can update!! :-D**


	20. Closer Than Expected

**A/N: Uh, sorry it's been so long. Actually an evil plot bunny decided to hold me captive (but the story I wrote to be free of it was so dumb, I'm not gonna post it). I hope you enjoy the new chapter! It's short though . . . Sorry! But oh well, thanks for reviews!! Enjoy!!**

Darkness Within  
By SpacePirateGirl

_Closer Than Expected_

Shou . . . The name had suddenly sparked Lisa's interest. The only brother of Ryo Marufuji, who played his famous dragon cards. Maybe Shou would be able to erase her abrupt doubt in his brother. For she had met Ryo once—even spoke to him. He just couldn't have been the one speaking to Tanjiro.

Lisa had never been to Tokyo, Japan before . . . at least, not thoroughly. Finding the entrance exams to Duel Academia would be difficult, especially because she couldn't figure out where she was herself.

"_Are you lost?" said a voice behind her._

_Startled, Lisa flipped around to see the tall man, who had spoken. His teal hair and black cloak gave him away instantly. Ryo Marufuji, the one who had changed her from good to evil, the one who had nearly killed his own brother in a simple duel._

_However, staring at his face, she found herself feeling no fear. The stories, she had heard of him, may have been true, but face-to-face he was different. Being evil wasn't the same as having a strong will to win._

"_Yeah. Do you, by chance, know where they're holding the entrance exams for Duel Academia?"_

_He grabbed the map from my hand and marked a few direction on it before handing it back._

_Lisa inspected the directions, and smiled. "Thank you very much."_

_He said nothing in return, merely responding with his icy glare. He soon walked away indifferently, so Lisa left on the path, he had drawn on the map._

People saw Ryo as dark and malicious, but back then Lisa had learned better. He came off as cold and emotionless, but he didn't wish to harm anyone. But with most of the evidence pointing toward him alone, could . . . Could she have been wrong about the famous Ryo? Could she really base a three-sentenced conversation on something as important as this?

Lisa knew Shou had been in her Dorm room before, along with Kenzan, and she knew that was her only clue to find him out the moment. Maybe he had additional information on Ryo.

As she strolled down the path, hands in her pockets and head down, hunger hit the redhead hard—she hadn't eaten for longer than just a few hours. A vague thought of having a snack crossed her mind, yet vanished quickly. Edo could be on the verge of death right at that moment, and being comfortable felt just so _wrong_! Especially when it was all her fault. Her hunger wasn't too big of a problem though; she would find Edo, save him, and somehow everything would return to normal. Somehow . . .

_Edo . . . please stay okay until I can get to you. Please_,she prayed to him frantically.

"Lisa?" said a quiet voice in front of her.

Even lost in her thoughts, Lisa could still recognize Shou's voice, slightly similar to Ryo's that fateful day. "Hi, Shou. I was wondering if you would talk to me about something."

"About Edo?" Shou asked curiously.

"Indirectly," Lisa admitted. "Where'd Kenzan go?"

Shou shrugged. "To find Judai. I was just heading back to the Red Dorm actually." He began walking ahead, slightly waiting for Lisa to follow.

"Are you okay talking about Ryo?" she suddenly asked, worried about how he felt about his distant brother.

Shou shrugged, once again. "Depends."

"If you think he was evil or just cold when you last saw him." Lisa gauged his reaction as she looked at his face. He seemed calm enough. "Is this okay to talk about?"

"Yeah . . . Actually, he apologized to me before he . . . died," Shou answered, coughing out the last word. "He seemed very sincere about it."

Lisa mentally sighed in relief. If he apologized, maybe he wasn't behind this, after all. "How did he die?"

"He disappeared for months, and then . . . the officials, the ones trying to find him—they decided he was dead." Shou bit his lip after he explained.

"I'm sorry for asking you those questions, Shou," Lisa said.

Shou nodded. "It's okay. But what does this have to do with Edo?"

"Nothing anymore," she answered. "Thanks a bunch."

Shou smiled, and walked away, Lisa watching him go. A slight smile grew on her face from Shou's confirmation of her belief. For she had always known one thing, ever since the awful night when Edo had to duel her and lose. The person who had orchestrated the entire plot, including Edo's capture, was not Ryo Marufuji.

Lisa had never thought it was. Thanks to Shou's information on Ryo's sincere apology, she actually could believe herself again.

XXXxxxXXX

"Judai!"

Judai watched as Asuka raced across the hallway to get to him between the first classes of the day. "Hi, Asuka," he greeted cheerfully. "What's up?"

She handed out typed pieces of paper for him. "I found Edo's duel records, and then hacked into the school computer to find yours."

"Wow! Really?" Judai exclaimed. "I could never do something like that!"

She laughed nervously, her honey-colored eyes closing at the same time. "I couldn't either . . . Bastion helped me a little. Anyway, these are the people that both of you have dueled. I put stars by the ones I thought could have a grudge against Edo, but . . . there's still a ton. Last year, at the tournament, you dueled so many professionals. I don't know . . ."

Judai nodded in understanding. "Right. Thank you so, so much, Asuka."

She nodded, an expression on her face that Judai couldn't quite decipher. "It wasn't a problem. Well, I gotta get to class. See you, Judai." And then she raced off again.

Judai flipped through the papers and sighed. He wasn't very good at this type of thing without someone to talk it through with . . . And since Kenzan and Shou were so tight on school these days, he didn't know whom he could get to skip class.

Until he almost fell over when someone bumped into him.

"Oh, sorry . . ." the girl whispered, red hair hiding her face in shadows.

"Lisa?"

She looked up, eyeing him with her green eyes. "Judai." Her voice held no emotion.

Judai realized that her shock must have worn off. She was grieving now . . . "Lisa, you don't need to be sad. We'll find Edo."

She frowned in confusion, but then familiarity registered on her face. "Oh, I was just thinking about . . . Never mind."

"No, really, what?"

"Nothing."

He knew she would have usually yelled at him for pestering her, but she didn't seem to have any emotion at all, this time around. "Lisa, are you going to class?"

"No."

She hadn't gone to class much ever since Edo disappeared.

Judai sighed, trying to think of ways to cheer her up. He wasn't so joyful himself, but he was able to suppress his sorrow a little. "Lisa, here's some profiles on duelists that Edo and I have dueled," he told her, handing out the papers.

She glanced at them dubiously. "What about them?"

"Uh . . . One of these could be the people behind Edo's capture _obviously_," Judai said. He was stunned that she wasn't even thinking clearly enough to realize something as apparent as that.

Looking down again, Lisa bit her lip. "So?"

"_So_ we can save Edo! Duh . . ."

"It doesn't matter anymore," she responded. "We should give up."

Judai shook his head in astonishment. "What?! Why?!"

He noticed her teeth sink in deeper into her lip, and realized she was holding back tears. "He doesn't want to be saved. I heard it from Tanjiro and the one behind all of this themselves. They're hiding in the well, and I heard them. Edo isn't kidnapped. He's . . . on their side."

"There's no way Edo would turn against us like that," Judai challenged. "You must have heard wrong. Or maybe he's been brainwashed."

"Even so, whatever's brainwashing him, as you say, is like a disease. The only way to save them is with a duel, and the winner gets the disease," Lisa explained sadly. "This has all happened because Edo _wanted_ to save other people. Do you think he'd want us to sacrifice ourselves to save him?"

"Do you think he's just gonna sit around doing nothing?!" Judai countered. "He's gonna come after us eventually! And he's going to hurt someone. Which do you think he'd rather want? Being responsible for other's pain, or having other people be responsible for their own pain?!"

The bell rang suddenly, and they knew they were late, even though they weren't planning on going to class anyway.

"Lisa, I don't care if you don't want to save Edo. But at least help me figure out who the person behind all this is to stop him from kidnapping _other_ people." Judai watched as tears began pouring down her face.

Slowly, gradually, the red-haired girl nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Good." He began walking away.

"Where are you going?" she asked, following him.

He laughed, tensely yet loosely at the same time. "We don't want to be caught skipping class, do we?"

She smiled a little. "We're hiding somewhere?"

"Yep."

The two arrived at the cafeteria, the tables there clean and unused for the morning. He knew after the bell rang again, that the cafeteria would no longer be empty, so he crawled under one of the tables as he gestured for Lisa to follow. She did so hesitantly, glancing at him in confusion as she went.

"Judai, what are we doing under here?"

He laughed again. "What if someone catches us? They won't notice us under here."

She sighed. "All right. So who do you have on your list."

Judai went through a few of them and told her their names at first, but soon he just tossed the papers on the floor and shook his head. "A lot," he answered instead.

"The duelist plays dragon cards," Lisa told him suddenly. "I saw him duel Tanjiro. He beat Tanjiro on the first round."

"Yikes! I can't wait to duel him!" Judai exclaimed. He was that strong?

"Judai!" Lisa scolded. "Let's concentrate on this."

He nodded. "Right. So it seems that Ryo's the only one who's dueled Edo and me and plays dragon cards." He grabbed Ryo's profile from the stack, but he didn't see a star by the duelist's name before he realized why. "It says he's been dead for a while . . ."

Lisa shook her head. "I talked to Shou. He's not necessarily dead. He only disappeared and was declared dead."

"You mean . . . Lisa! He must be the one! I really bet it's him—"

"No," she stated, her voice cold and numb. "It can't be him."

"Lisa, he plays dragon cards, he's dueled me and Edo, and he 'disappeared' for long enough to avoid suspicion. It's him. Everything fits." He wasn't usually the perceptive or genius type, but right here, right now, he felt as though he was right. Ryo was the culprit.

"No," she said again. Her tone was firmer than before. "It's not Ryo."

He eyed her suspiciously. "How would you know? I thought you didn't pay attention to Pro duelists."

"I don't, but everyone's heard about Ryo Marufuji. Besides . . ."

"Yeah?"

"I met him once. He's not evil . . . He's just strong-willed."

He let out a sigh. "Lisa, just 'cause you met him once doesn't mean you know all about him."

"He's not evil, Judai!"

Suddenly footsteps approached the cafeteria, and Judai and Lisa remained as quiet as possible, hearing only their own quiet breaths. There were guards coming, to look for students skipping class.

One of them was talking. " . . . you know? He needs to show up in class more often."

"Yeah, I hear ya. The teacher's are always making such a fuss on how we never find him anywhere. I mean, he's so good at hiding. He could be under any of these tables for all we know."

The first one who spoke laughed. "Well, maybe we should search under them all then. We'd finally show those dumb teacher's who's really how good we really are."

"Ha! Too much effort . . . Besides, there's plenty of other students to catch skipping."

"Yep, I guess you're right. Class is going to end soon anyway, so there's really no point. I think I saw someone standing outside on the school grounds though. Let's go check it out . . ."

Gradually their voices both vanished after they heard the footsteps recede as well. Judai held back laughter once he realized they had been talking about him always skipping class, while Lisa stifled a snort.

"Jeez, Judai, they really never find you?"

"Nope!" he declared proudly. Then he remembered their last words about someone standing outside. "I don't know anyone else, besides you, who skips class though . . . I wonder who they saw outside."

"Same." She paused, eyeing the papers lying on the ground. "Anyway we should look at the other profiles . . ."

"Yeah," Judai agreed. He picked up one of the marked ones. "Asuma put a star next to the ones she thought were suspicious. Let's start with those."

"Okay."

They began searching through the files, missing nothing, examining everything. Who could the person against both Judai and Edo be?

But that wasn't the real question coursing through Judai's mind. Who was the person standing outside on the Academy grounds? The guards said this person was probably a student, and yet no students were skipping classes anymore. Judai was the only one now, besides Lisa, who was sitting right next to him.

Wait . . . There _was_ another who was currently not attending class.

He dropped the profile he was holding. "Lisa?"

"Yeah?" she asked absent-mindedly, still reading the paper she was holding thoroughly.

"Edo's standing right outside the school campus."

**A/N: Sorry for mistakes. I posted it right after I typed it and read it once, all in the same day (usually I read it at least three times and a final time a few days after). And sorry if it's dumb . . . I'm doing my best. ****:-) Please review if you have nothing to do or if you want to! Thanks!**


	21. Three Days

**A/N: Hello again! And thanks for the review! Sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter! And YAYZ I updated 2 times in 2 weeks. I'm so happy… Hehe. Enjoy the chapter!**

Darkness Within  
By SpacePirateGirl

_Three Days_

"Edo's standing right outside the school campus."

Shock froze her for an instant before she shook her head, hardly understanding what he had said. "What?!"

"Edo's here! He's the one those guard people were talking about!" Judai explained quickly.

Ding.

The bell had rung, signaling class time to be over. Lisa still didn't move, staring at Judai as if he was speaking a different language. Edo Phoenix standing outside? No. Impossible. Unbelievable. Absurd.

Ding.

She heard students spill out into the halls, and Judai grabbed her arm, pulling her out from under the table as he, too, stood. She heard commotion coming from the hallway, and soon enough she recognized her peers entering the cafeteria.

"Why _now_ of all times, Judai?" she asked. "Why would he be here _now_?"

Judai shrugged as he gently pulled her away from the cafeteria and toward the school entrance. "How am I supposed to know? Let's go see, at least."

Lisa knew that students enjoyed eating outside during classes, so maybe Edo was planning to disguise himself amongst the crowd. But considering his appearance and his reputation, she highly doubted he would go unnoticed, even with a disguise. Which could only mean . . .

"What if it's a trap?" Lisa demanded. "What if he only wants to duel you to get _you_ on their side, huh?! Then what are you gonna do?!"

"I'm gonna duel him obviously," Judai answered without a moment's hesitation. "And win."

Frustrated with him, she sighed, but she didn't offer any further resistance as he pulled her along. Finally they reached the outdoors, and immediately noticed a huge crowd gathered along the wall of the campus, a crowd that would gather in a crime scene, or murder scene.

Edo was in the center of the crowd, Lisa knew. She ran ahead of Judai, needing to see him, needing to make sure he was all right . . . She pushed through with ease, noting that the rest of the students seemed to stunned to be much of a hindrance.

"Edo!" she screamed as she broke through the crowd.

Her eyes warily saw his feet, and she followed the legs, to his body, to his face. His appearance hadn't changed at all. He still wore the same duel disk, had the same silver hair and blue eyes. But the way he moved, the way he looked at her wasn't Edo.

She bit her lip before glancing at the ground around Edo Phoenix. Momoe—was that her name? Momoe was lying on the ground unconscious as Junko knelt beside her waving frantically with her hand in front of Momoe's face. As if she was trying to get the path of air to her.

Lisa looked back up toward Edo's face and shook her head, taking a step backwards. "Edo . . . What . . . What have you done?"

His eyes were impassive, and so was his face. Edo didn't portray a single amount of emotion; he was blank yet somehow cold.

"Edo?"

"Tell me where Judai is," he ordered, his voice not the clear, perfect voice she had once known. It was dark and angry.

She shook her head again, a habit when she was stunned. "Wh-why . . . ?" her voice croaked, and she almost choked on her own word.

He didn't answer but merely stared at her as he awaited an answer.

Her feet took half steps toward him until she was a foot away. She stared at him, assessing his figure, observing his darkness. Had he done something to Momoe?

She flinched as his hands reached out, and suddenly her breath was lost. She gasped and struggled, but he had her neck in his grasp. "Tell me where Judai is," he repeated.

"Edo . . ." she pled, the sky spinning above her. "Edo . . . please . . ."

Can't breathe.

She barely heard the gasps and shouts from the crowd around her. Now the ground was spinning.

_Can't breathe!_

"Where is Judai?"

"Edo . . ." she gasped again.

He wasn't letting go.

"I'm over here," a voice stated suddenly. Judai. "You can let her go now."

The grasp around her throat released, and her body crashed to the ground. Lisa gasped for air immediately, choking on the abundance of it.

"What do you want, Edo?" Judai's voice demanded, sharply yet formally.

Edo was smirking when Lisa looked up at him. "I want to duel."

"Right here and now? Sweet!" Judai exclaimed as he activated his duel disk. "You've got it!"

"Judai, no!" Lisa yelled before Edo could activate his duel disk. Then she turned to the silver-haired Professional standing behind her. "Edo, come back, please. This isn't you. You wanted to save people, remember? Not hurt them!"

His icy, blue eyes glared down upon her, and she flinched, though kept her eyes just as fiercely upon him. He was hurting himself with all of this violence. Whoever the mastermind behind everything was, she wanted him gone, away from Edo. She wanted Edo back.

"Come here when the sun sets in three days. You'll duel then," Edo explained to Judai as he took his eyes off Lisa. "There's too many spectators right now."

Judai frowned, yet a smile grew on his face. "I'll be there."

"Good," Edo agreed. "Because if you aren't there . . . Well, you'll know the stakes when the three days are up. If you have any bit of intelligence within you, of course."

He took a step away, but Lisa grabbed his leg before he could go any farther. "Don't leave, Edo! Don't you remember who you are?!"

Edo glanced back at her, his face impassive and dark, dark as the midnight sky. "I don't have time for this," he stated coldly.

Then his foot moved unexpectedly toward her face and nudged her off. She knew he could have kicked her instead if he had wanted to . . . But something had stopped him, Lisa realized. There was still some bit of Edo in there, still in control.

But he was gone; he had taken to the forest, just as the nurse arrived and knelt beside Momoe.

Lisa tore her gaze away from the spot she had last seen Edo and glanced at the still unconscious Momoe. "Is she all right?"

The nurse said nothing but nodded. "Just fainted is all. She should be fine."

Lisa sighed in relief. She knew that technically _she_ was to blame for all of this. Hadn't she been the one to allow herself to be taken over by Tanjiro, only to curse Edo after he saved her?

"Are _you_ okay, Lisa?" Judai asked as he held a hand out for her.

She took it gratefully and stood up. "Yeah . . ." Knowing she was physically, Lisa didn't bother explaining how she felt mentally.

A smile appeared on the brunette's face without warning. "I take it you want to save Edo _now_?"

She couldn't help but smile, as well. "Yeah." Her smile wavered as she remembered Edo's blue eyes, tinted with darkness with hate—hate for Judai. Hate for her. That hadn't truly been him, had it?

Judai saw the sad look on her face. "Everything will work out in the end." His grin grew wider. "It always does around here when I'm in charge!"

"Yeah."

**A/N: Sorry this was kinda short. I had intended to put a little more detail into it, but my brain was dead (not literally, of course!)…. Hahahaha…ha… I'll try to make it longer next time!! Thanks for reading! And thanks in advance to whoever reviews!! THANKS!!**

**P.S. Who thinks 5Ds is boring? Hehe.**


	22. The Plan

**A/N:**** I'm not very talkative today, so . . . I'll just say that I wrote this yesterday, so it might not be that well edited. Thanks for the reviews. :-) And I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Darkness Within  
By SpacePirateGirl

_The Plan_

Lisa entered the hospital wing, glancing in the rooms to see where Momoe's room was. She still felt responsible for everything happening, and needed to make sure Momoe would be all right. Finally finding the right room, she came in and was hardly surprised to see Asuka there, sitting with her friend.

The girl glanced back with honey-brown eyes. "Hello," she greeted simply.

Lisa took a step back in order to leave. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude."

Asuka shrugged. "It's okay."

Sighing, the redhead approached the bed containing Momoe cautiously. The girl's black hair lay sprung out on the pillow, and her eyes were closed. She appeared peaceful, as if she were only resting. But Lisa knew she was probably still unconscious. Only an hour ago had Edo been here . . .

What would Edo do when he became himself again? How would he react? The memories of harming others would still be there, lingering in the dark corners of his mind, tearing his soul apart. If Momoe was not better, Lisa would never forgive herself for leading Edo into such a state that rebelled against his own beliefs—even if the cause was an accident.

"Will she be all right?" Lisa asked nervously.

"Yeah, there wasn't that much harm," Asuka answered easily.

Lisa sighed in relief.

"The nurse says that once she wakes up, they'll do a check up on her and maybe keep her over night . . . But really, she just fainted from being strangled so long. That's all," Asuka continued, a sad smile on her face. "He wanted to know where Judai was."

"I know," Lisa responded. "We were hiding during class . . ." If they hadn't been hiding, maybe Momoe would have known where Judai was. Again, she felt responsible. Everything always led to her . . .

"Asuka, I'm so, so sorry this happened. I wish I could have done something." The words were running out like water running down a river. She couldn't stop them. "If only I'd never come to this school . . . it wouldn't have happened."

"Yes, it would have," Asuka disagreed. "_They_ used you to get closer to capturing Edo."

She had said _capturing_. So even she doesn't believe Edo, the one who longed to be a hero, turned bad, even though he hurt her own friend?

"If you didn't come to this school, they would have used somebody else," she continued. "The ones behind this are responsible. Not you and not Edo."

Lisa bit her lip. "Thank you, Asuka."

She grinned. "Sure."

A moment of silence passed, and only the sound of the steady beep corresponding to Momoe's heartbeat remained. Then Asuka said, "So where _is_ Judai anyway?"

Lisa noticed something in Asuka's eyes as she said the carefree yet somehow tense words, something in her eyes that she knew she would have seen in herself for Edo. This girl was worried for Judai, and looking deeper, Lisa realized that Asuka might even _love_ Judai. The realization stunned her, and she wondered if Judai returned the feelings.

Whatever the case, she had to remove the worry from Asuka's eyes. Love was a tender thing, Lisa knew all too well. "Oh, he's fine," she answered. "He's just by that old well . . . You know, the one that used to have all those monster spirits." Lisa left out the part that he was seeing if the enemy was still there, and what their plans were in the next three days.

Asuka nodded in understanding. "I see." She paused before continuing. "I heard about Edo's threat, by the way. Three days before he wants a duel, right?"

"Yes." Lisa could still see the worry was still in Asuka's eyes, probably from what she had just said. "That only means we have to figure out who's behind this before the three days are up."

Asuka shook her head. "But he said something about stakes . . . Insurance that Judai will show up for the duel . . . And yet he doesn't have anything or anyone to threaten Judai with. What's he planning?"

"I don't know. He said we'd know when the time came."

"You think he might be planning to threaten with his own life?"

Lisa was about to say it could be a possibility, but then further thoughts stopped her. The look that had appeared in Edo's eyes when she had seen him since he disappeared. He looked angry, dark, cold . . . He had also seemed confused deeper within. But the outer look, the look of how he was being controlled, had not appeared to be that way.

This dark Edo—he wouldn't put his own existence as a stake of a duel. Someone or something else would have to be the sacrifice. If so, then who was it? Definitely not Judai—he would be the one dueling. Then who?

"No, Edo won't do that," Lisa finally answered Asuka's question. "It's going to be someone else. I guess we'll all have to keep our guards up until the three days are up."

Agreeing, Asuka nodded. "Right."

XXXxxxXXX

Judai crept near the edge of the well, hoping if anyone was there, he wouldn't be heard. Finally he peaked his head over the wall to see inside. It was dark, but he could still make out a figure with a black cloak and a hood, leaving his face in shadows.

Suddenly a twig snapped from deeper in the forest, and Judai darted for cover. After a few moments when Judai had hid, Edo Phoenix himself appeared and dropped down into the well. He wasn't carrying a duel disc and so Judai knew there was no way to save him from darkness right now.

Creeping back, Judai looked into the well's deepness. The hooded one was saying something, and Judai strained to listen.

"So you've given Judai his warning?"

"Yes," Edo responded, but his voice was not the same as it once was—it was different. Almost as if he were lost within himself. Though he didn't sound as if he were being controlled or manipulated.

"Good."

Something about the hooded ones voice sounded eerily familiar. Judai couldn't quite place his finger on it. He hadn't heard this voice for a long time, he knew, and there were many people he hadn't seen in a while. Truthfully he still suspected Ryo, but if Lisa promised him it wasn't, he would, at least, try to believe her.

"Everything is set," the hooded one continued. "And we have three days to give ourselves an advantage."

No sound was made except for the blowing of the wind, but Judai still stayed, hoping he would discover their plan.

Finally someone spoke. "When the three days are up, you will bring Judai here," the hooded one said. "I will duel him."

But wasn't Edo going to duel him?

_Come here when the sun sets in three days. You'll duel then._

Oh, he didn't exactly say who the opponent would be, Judai realized suddenly.

"But before I duel him, I will duel you. The order is essential to the plan. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Edo answered.

This would be an easy plan to avoid. As long as he somehow got to duel this hooded person before he dueled Edo, then he would be able to both save Edo and defeat the bad guy. It would be a walk in the park.

"What if Judai doesn't go along with the plan?" Edo asked as if he had read Judai's thoughts.

The hooded one laughed slightly before his mirth became loud and maniacal. "Oh, don't worry about that. He'll go perfectly along with the plan. Not doing what we say will result in somebody's death, and when the three days are up, he'll understand who that will be."

"Who?"

"Only I can know that for now," the hooded one responded. "The whole point of this is the element of surprise."

Judai's face turned pale, and he froze near the entrance of the well. So he knew they were going to, most likely, capture somebody and threaten to kill them if he didn't do what they said. Avoiding it would be easy, of course. All they had to do was protect whoever the target was, and thus, destroy any danger.

But there was one problem. The mastermind of this plot wasn't even telling the people on his side who the target was. And Judai wouldn't know who to protect until the target was captured. He finally realized what everyone was up against.

Maybe this hooded guy would force him to loose once they dueled. What was he going to do?

No, that wast eh wrong question for now.

Who was, most likely, the person to be kidnapped?

He didn't know. The only plan of action he could choose was to eliminate the bad guy and save Edo before their time was up. He was about to leap in and challenge them until he remembered there were two . . . They probably would agree to dueling—as long as both of them could duel Judai at once.

As much as Judai enjoyed dueling, he wasn't sure if he could beat two people at once, especially when one was Edo and one was somebody he didn't know at all.

"One last thing," the hooded figure said suddenly, though he didn't seem to be talking only to Edo. "Tomorrow night go to the base of the volcano on the side parallel to the school. Apparently somebody will be expecting you there."

Suddenly the cloaked one's head rose and stared at Judai with emerald eyes, familiar emerald eyes, ones that he had seen a long, long time ago yet couldn't remember.

In that instant, Judai felt more afraid than he had ever felt before—just from those eyes. He sensed that he _had_ dueled this person before, that during their last duel he hadn't won yet somehow he hadn't lost either. He saw hatred in this man's eyes, hatred that was in every fiber of his being.

He sat, staring, frozen with fear for a moment until he regained his composure.

Edo had glanced up at him, as well, his icy, blue eyes. "Well, this _someone_ had better not be you, Judai," he warned, "or I won't show up."

The brunet stood up quickly and backed up. After a few steps were taken, he ran, the wind pushing away his fear and doubt. Once he reached Duel Academia, he felt his normal self again.

Fearless and cheerful.

Judai saw Lisa just leaving the campus, and he decided something. If what the hooded figure had really meant his command for Edo to go to the base of the volcano, then this was their chance to save him. Of course, whether Edo showed or not, Judai knew he would be the only duelist who could stand up to Edo.

But duels weren't always about winning or losing. Sometimes duels were centered around honor and pride.

"Hey, Lisa!" Judai called.

She glanced at him, smiled slightly in relief, and began approaching him.

Sometimes battles were meant for people who _needed_ to duel, rather than people who were sure to win.

Judai was sure to win.

But Lisa needed to save Edo.

He knew already who would be going to the base of the volcano on the island.


	23. AN and Omake: Unwanted

So this was the plan. I reread the story... I remember what happened in it... and I summarize the end. That way I can close off loose ends of a story I ditched who knows how many years ago. (I'm sorry, I try not to be like that now T_T). However, I started reading it, and while parts of it made me sickened, other parts actually weren't half-bad, in my humble opinion. xD I didn't realize how far I had actually gotten in this story and how close I would have been to finishing. I remembered ditching this long before the duel between Edo and Lisa (aka Tanjiro)... but I went like 3 chapters past that, which shocked me. Also I remember the plot a lot better than I originally thought I did.

So now I'm trying to figure out what to do...

The thing is I don't think I would mind actually writing another two or three chapters to finish it off. I'd skip a lot of the arcs if I did that, but I feel like that would be better than just a summarized version of the end. I'm not really sure if I am capable of writing like I used to or if I have the time... but for now, I'm going to work on summarizing the other stories that I ditched, and then I'll decide what to do here. I'm really hoping to actually write the end for this so you all know what happens, albeit years later, but I make no promises. At the very least, you will see what I had outlined for the last few chapters, and at most, you'll have a completed story (minus a few arcs xD)! :) I really hope I can do the latter.

Anyway, so that I don't break a rule by posting a chapter that is solely an author's note, I am going to do a little omake here. This is what happened after Judai declined Edo's request to be the tag team partner because that was my favorite part of this whole story. I love their bromance, dude, so many feels. xD Anyway enjoy:

Unwanted

Edo Phoenix stood on the dock overlooking Duel Academia. He knew that it wasn't Judai's fault, that Judai was Judai, and by being Judai, he wouldn't realize the strings attached to every single decision he made. Hell, Edo didn't even really want to admit that he held one of those strings**—**and tightly at that.

They weren't friends. Well, not by a normal standard. Honestly Edo knew that there would be no such thing as normal friends for him. He was too cold, too distant, and painfully polite. He pushed people away because if they got too close, they would see the real him, the him that still suffered nightmares and sometimes cried over memories of his deceased father.

But by the standards of Edo Phoenix, Judai was as close as a friend as he could ever be.

So while it wasn't the guy's fault, Edo couldn't help but feel a resentment akin to betrayal. How could Judai not realize how much Edo would want him as a partner and how lonely he was**—**because it wasn't even the fact that he _needed_ a partner. He didn't. He could beat the majority of the school in one day without breaking a sweat. If anything, a partner would drag him down.

It was pure loneliness. And longing.

Ever since he had come to this school, Judai made him feel many new emotions, such as jealousy, confusion, and hopelessness. Yet at the same time, Edo almost felt at peace here. He had learned just how _good_ it could feel to not be a drag or a burden or an arrogant, pompous Pro duelist . . . He had learned what it was like to be wanted. Just by one person.

Judai had given him that feeling . . .

. . . and then turned him down.

His hand crumpled into a fist, and he closed his eyes to allow himself the small release from his mask he hid behind. Almost like memories, the visions of Judai and he winning the tournament, sharing the trophy, together, the visions that could never be now, swept over him like a flood, and he clenched his teeth together until his jaw ached in protest.

Maybe it had been better to be alone.

Edo Phoenix retreated within his boat and left raw thoughts of Judai behind.


End file.
